The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says its preparation for the 2024 national elections is gaining momentum with the adoption of its elections strategy and the discussion of its election manifesto this weekend.
The red berets were holding a meeting of their Central Command Team in Kempton Park east of Johannesburg. The two-day meeting which ended today was attended by party leader Julius Malema and other top officials.
It was called to look at the EFF’s detailed report of the 10th anniversary held at the FNB Stadium last month.
Buoyed by huge support at their 10th anniversary, which FNB Stadium, the country’s biggest soccer stadium filled to the rafters, the red beret are now setting their eyes on what would probably be the watershed elections since 1994.
EFF leader Julius Malema’s speech at the anniversary :
Party Deputy President Floyd Shivhambu elaborates on what was high on their agenda this weekend.
“The second issue that we are dealing with today was the workshop and adopt the Road to Victory Manual, which is our election strategy for 2024. And then the last component of our meeting was discussing the manifesto framework as to how are we going to engage in processes of consultations and interactions with members of the community and different people from different parts of the world in shaping what is to the most cogent and clear manifesto of the EFF in 2024. Because what we want to have out of this process is the people’s manifesto. So those are the key issues that we are deliberating on in this meeting of the EFF.”
♦️Happening Now♦️
Day 2: The EFF leadership led by CIC @Julius_S_Malema at the EFF CCT meeting of the 2nd National People’s Assembly taking place at Premier Hotel, OR Tambo in Kempton Park.
-Shaping the revolution towards economic freedom!#RegisterToVoteEFF pic.twitter.com/Tf3QofIEFh
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) August 26, 2023
BRICS a missed opportunity for African leaders
Shivhambu also weighed in on the 15th BRICS Summit which ended on Thursday welcoming the expansion of the BRICS bloc from five countries to 11 member states.
But the EFF argues that African leaders missed an opportunity to consolidate and emphasise on the African continental infrastructure project during the Summit.
“It is a positive step that we are having BRICS including countries in the global south that are uniting against long overdue imperialist forces of the west. But we think also that it was a missed opportunity to consolidate what we want to achieve continentally. In the Agenda 2063 we have 10 priority projects of the African continent and number one among those projects is an integrated rail project which is going to enhance the intra-African trade. But in none of these platforms, which are relevant, the African continent fails to say we are looking for those Pan African infrastructure programs and projects.”
Reform of multilateral institutions
On the reform of the multilateral institutions, the EFF deputy president says he is confident that this will happen in their lifetime. For some time now, African leaders have been pushing the reform of the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions, which include the IMF and the World Bank.
They have also called for a representation of the continent in the all-important UN Security Council.
Last Thursday in his address to the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, UN Secretary General Antonio Guteress said Africa pays four times more for borrowing than the United States and eight times more than the wealthiest European countries.
But, Shivhambu says with the current crop of young leaders, he is optimistic of a fair and just global system.
“It can happen in our lifetime for instance in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) which is represented by parliaments of more than 170 countries. We as the South African delegation in the IPU have raised the issue of the reform of the UN and we had overwhelming support from the IPU of over 170 countries. I think with our generation of leadership it is definitely going to happen because there is also beginning to be a global awakening that we cannot be under the spell and the control of the western agenda. So taking and riding on this wave of a global awakening we can become victorious in terms of how we get to reform this particular institution. “
The EFF will on Sunday hold its post Central Command Team briefing to outline the outcomes of its two-day deliberations.
EFF 2024 national election readiness:
