Economic Freedom Fighters

Economic Freedom Fighters
Abbreviation EFF
President & Commander in Chief Julius Malema
Deputy President Floyd Shivambu
Chairperson Dali Mpofu
Secretary-General Godrich Gardee
Spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi
Founder Julius Malema
Founded 26 July 2013 (2013-07-26)
Split from African National Congress
Headquarters Johannesburg
Student wing Economic Freedom Fighters Students' Command (EFFSC)
Ideology Communism
Marxism–Leninism[1][2]
Anti-capitalism[3][4]
Anti-imperialism
Pan-Africanism
Anti-Europeanism[5][6][7]
Political position Far-left[8][9][10][11][12][13]
International affiliation None
Colours Red[3][4][14]
Slogan "People’s Power for Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime"
National Assembly
25 / 400
National Council of Provinces
7 / 90
Pan-African Parliament
0 / 5
Provincial Legislatures
30 / 430
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (council)
30 / 270
Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (council)
6 / 120
City of Cape Town (council)
7 / 231
Website
www.effonline.org

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African far-left political party. It was started by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema, and his allies, in 2013.[15] Malema is President of the EFF, heading the Central Command Team which serves as the central structure of the party.[16]

It is currently the third-largest party in both houses of the South African Parliament, receiving 1,169,259 votes and a 6.35% share of the vote in the 2014 general election. By December 2014, the EFF claimed to have over half a million members, although this has not been independently verified.

History

At a 26 July 2013 press briefing in Soweto, Malema announced that the new party had over 1000 members, double the 500 required for registration with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).[17] The EFF is now registered with the IEC, after an objection to its registration by the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) was dismissed in September 2013.[18]

Splinters and infighting

In 2015, the EFF suspended MP Lucky Twala and expelled three MPs, Mpho Ramakatsa, Andile Mngxitama and Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala.[19] Mngxitama formed his own party, named Black First Land First (BLF), while Litchfield-Tshabalala joined the United Democratic Movement.

Policies

A small march by the EFF on Mandela Day (18 July) 2014 near the parliament building in Cape Town protesting in support of land reform in South Africa.

The EFF "draws inspiration from the broad Marxist–Leninist tradition and Fanonian schools of thought in their analyses of the state, imperialism, culture and class contradictions in every society", according to one of its declarations.[20]

It criticises the African National Congress and their primary opposition, the Democratic Alliance, for their allegedly pro-business stances, which it claims have sold out the black people of South Africa to capitalism as cheap labour. It promises to tackle corruption, provide quality social housing, and provide free primary healthcare and education for all, as well as proposing to expropriate stolen land, nationalise the mining and banking sectors, double welfare grants and the minimum wage, and end the proposed toll system for highways.[21]

The EFF takes significant inspiration from Thomas Sankara in terms of both style and ideology.[22] In a May 2014 column, the prominent EFF member Jackie Shandu declared his party a "proudly Sankarist formation".[23]

The EFF has been vocal in its criticism of black business owners and black owners of mining companies in South Africa. In an address at the Oxford Union in November 2015, Malema spoke out against billionaire mining company owner Patrice Motsepe.[24][25] Further protests in 2015, the EFF delivered demands that included the socialization of the mining sector and called for more explicit targets for the 26% BEE ownership required by law.[26]

Malema addressed a crowd in Marikana, Rustenburg in the platinum mining area, blaming mining companies and calling out platinum mining company Lonmin in particular, for poverty in the region.[27]

The party supports the re-introduction of the death penalty.[28][29]

In 2016, after local elections in South Africa, the EFF has suggested that they will back the Democratic Alliance in hung-metro areas, but would not be entering into a coalition with any political party in South Africa.[30]

The EFF was the only parliamentary party that opposed the 2018 political party funding bill.[31]

High-profile members

High-profile members of the Central Command Team include Floyd Shivambu, Fana Mokoena and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (National Spokesperson).[32] Controversial businessman Kenny Kunene joined the Central Command Team in July 2013 before resigning from the Central Command Team on 20 August 2013 and from the organisation on 26 August 2013.[33][34] On 4 November 2013, it was announced that Dali Mpofu had left the African National Congress (ANC) after 33 years of membership and joined the EFF.[35]

Support base

According to a November 2013 Ipsos survey, the party's supporters are younger than average, with 49% being younger than 24, overwhelmingly black (99%) and mostly male, with women representing only 33% of the support base. A disproportionate number of supporters live in Malema's home province of Limpopo (28%), while only 1% live in KwaZulu-Natal, a more populous province.[36]

The party was expected to make an impact in the 2014 general election, taking between 4 per cent and 8 per cent of the national vote. This was potentially enough for the party to hold the balance of power in provinces where the governing African National Congress was in danger of losing its absolute majority.[21] In fact, the ANC retained its absolute majority, but the EFF moved into third place, surging past the shrinking Inkatha Freedom Party, with a 6.35% share of the vote to the IFP's 2.40%.

Election results

National elections

National Assembly

Election Total votes Share of vote Seats +/– Government
2014[37] 1,169,259 6.35
25 / 400
 Increase 25 in opposition

National Council of Provinces

Election Total # of
seats won		 +/–
2014
7 / 90
 Increase 7

Municipal elections

Election Votes %
2016[38] 3,202,679 8.31%

Provincial elections

Election Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng Kwazulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga North-West Northern Cape Western Cape
%Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats
2014[37] 3.48%2/63 8.15%2/30 10.30%8/73 1.85%2/80 10.74%6/49 6.26%2/30 13.21%5/33 4.96%2/30 2.11%1/42

Achievements

On 6 August 2015 the EFF announced that it has secured a Constitutional court case for its Jacob Zuma campaign of "#PayBackTheMoney". The case was heard on the 9 February 2016. The Judgement was released by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. The judgement stated that The President has violated the Constitution of South Africa, along with the Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete. The President was given 60 days to fulfill the requirements of the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.[39]

On 27 February 2018 the EFF tabled a motion in The National Assembly to amend the Constitution so as to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation. The motion, brought by the EFF leader Julius Malema, was adopted with a vote of 241 in support, and 83 against. The only parties who did not support the motion were the Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, Cope and the ACDP. Land Expropriation is one of the EFF's Seven cardinal pillars.[40]

In 2018, the student wing of the EFF, the EFF Student Command won many universities across the country. The red berets defeated the ANC-aligned South African Students Congress (Sasco) at the Durban University of Technology, the University of Zululand and Mangosuthu University of Technology. They also won in Cape Town, the District Six, Mowbray and Bellville Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) campuses with landslide victories, meaning they now are in charge of the institution's SRC. They also won the University of Cape Town. Peter Keetse, president of the EFFSC, said the win was a warning shot for what was going to happen in 2019 national general elections. He said the youth were the influencers of the future, “therefore, this is an indication of what is to follow”.[41]

Criticism

The ANC has accused the Zimbabwean ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), of supporting the EFF in order to destabilise the ANC.[42]

Ideology

Feminists and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa have criticised the party's militarism and "military command structure".[43][44]

In mid-June 2016 a group calling themselves "Anonymous Africa", claiming to be associated with the hacktivist group Anonymous, perpetrated a DDoS attack on the EFF's website stating the reason for the attack was the party's "nationalist socialist rhetoric".[45] The South African Communist Party also condemns this party.[46]

Violence and bigotry

Vusi Khoza, the party's candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, has a criminal conviction for his involvement in what was believed to be a xenophobic attack on foreigners at Albert Park, Durban in December 2009.[47]

Feminists have characterised leading members of the party as misogynist.[48][49][50][51]

The EFF is widely criticised for inciting and perpetuating racism.[52][45][53] South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission disqualified an EFF councillor in the 2016 local elections due to racism.[54]

In February, 2016, during violent university protests characterised by arson and vandalism, EFF Youth leader Omphile Seleke posted instructions for making petrol bombs on social media.[55]

Malema stated at a political rally in 2016 that “We [the EFF] are not calling for the slaughter of white people‚ at least for now". When asked for comment by a news agency, the ANC spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa stated that there will be no comment from the ANC, as "[h]e [Malema] was addressing his own party supporters."[56] While still the ANCYL leader, Malema was taken to the Equality Court by AfriForum for repeatedly singing “dubul’ ibhunu”, which translate as “shoot the boer [white farmer]”. The ANC supported Malema, though AfriForum and the ANC reached a settlement before the appeal case was due to be argued in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

In January 2018, EFF Deputy President Floyd Shivambu congratulated the Fighters for causing damage to various H&M stores[57] across South Africa due to a picture of a young Black child wearing a green hoodie reading, "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle."[58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]

Julius Malema leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters stated at a political rally in 2018 that "Go After A White Man... We Are Cutting The Throat Of Whiteness"[66][67] This led to the Democratic Alliance accusing the EFF's leader, Malema, of racism and not sharing the more tolerant views of South Africans broadly.[68]

Corruption

In October 2018 a group of 17 former EFF members and councillors in the Northern Cape accused the party's senior leadership of corruption and sexual exploitation of more junior female party members.[69]

Following the publication of a South African Reserve Bank report[70] into the collapse of VBS Mutual Bank implicating EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu's brother media reports came out alleging that the EFF received R1.3 million and Shivambu R10 million in illicit payments from VBS prior to it placed under curatorship in March 2018.[71][72] Prior to the publication of the Reserve Bank's report the EFF criticised the Reserve Bank for placing VBS under curatorship and accused it of victimising VBS on racial grounds.[73]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "EFF". Archived from the original on 5 January 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2016 – via Facebook.
  2. ↑ https://www.effonline.org/constitution
  3. 1 2 "Economic Freedom Fighters Party reignites debate (in English)". Al Jazeera. 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Hundreds gather for EFF launch (in English)". News24. 13 October 2013. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  5. ↑ Campbell, John (2016). Morning in South Africa. Indiana University Press. p. 187.
  6. ↑ Lewis, Megan (2016). Performing Whitely in the Postcolony: Afrikaners in South African Theatrical and Public Life. University of Iowa Press. p. 62.
  7. ↑ Jonathon (2014). My Road to Redemption. p. 253.
  8. ↑ South Africa's Malema says more than 60 ANC MPs will turn on Zuma. Reuters. Authors - Ed Stoddard and Sisipho Skweyiya. Published 21 July 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  9. ↑ Social Changes in a Global World. p.66. Author - Ulrike Schuerkens. Published by SAGE. Published in London in 2017. Accessed via Google Books.
  10. ↑ The World Since 1945: An International History. p.535. 2nd edition. Authors - P. M. H. Bell and Mark Gilbert. Published by Bloomsbury in London. First published in 2001, 2nd edition in 2017.
  11. ↑ Chaos in parliament as party gets ejected for grilling Zuma over corruption in South Africa. Independent. Author - Lamiat Sabin. Published 13 February 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  12. ↑ South African lawmakers disrupt parliament and demand Zuma #PayBackTheMoney. AlJazeera. Published 22 August 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  13. ↑ South African parliament descends into chaos. Radio New Zealand. Published 13 February 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  14. ↑ "Red Tide: From 'economic freedom' to 'white genocide', extremism grabs the spotlight (in English)". Daily Maverick. 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  15. ↑ Meggan Saville (12 July 2013). "Malema launches his Economic Freedom Fighters". Dispatch Online. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  16. ↑ Setumo Stone (11 July 2013). "Malema takes command of Economic Freedom Fighters". Business Day. Archived from the original on 14 July 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  17. ↑ SAPA (28 July 2013). "EFF readies for election registration as over 1 000 members recruited". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  18. ↑ Verashni Pillay (5 September 2013). "It's official: Malema's EFF is a political party". Mail & Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 September 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  19. ↑ Genevieve Quintal (5 June 2015). "Litchfield-Tshabalala UDM's new national organiser". Archived from the original on 30 September 2015.
  20. ↑ "Declaration". effonline.org.
  21. 1 2 "Economic Freedom Fighters on rise in South Africa". The Irish Times. 1 May 2014. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  22. ↑ Duval Smith, Alex (30 April 2014). "'Africa's Che Guevara': Thomas Sankara's legacy". British Broadcasting Corporation. London. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  23. ↑ Shandu, Jackie (22 May 2014). "The Sankarist makings of the EFF". Daily Maverick. Johannesburg. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  24. ↑ "Business Day". www.bdlive.co.za. Archived from the original on 29 December 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  25. ↑ Jordaan, Buchule Raba And Nomahlubi. "Patrice Motsepe has no power‚ says Malema". Times LIVE. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  26. ↑ John, Victoria. "Yes and no to EFF's list of demands". The M&G Online. Archived from the original on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  27. ↑ Tatai, Sello. "SABC News - Malema blames mining companies for high levels of poverty:Thursday 7 July 2016". www.sabc.co.za. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  28. ↑ "iafrica.com Juju wants death penalty". News.iafrica.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  29. ↑ "Malema wants death penalty #EFFlaunch | Economic Freedom Fighters - EFF". Economic Freedom Fighters. 13 October 2013. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  30. ↑ Feltham, Luke. "Malema says the EFF won't form coalitions, but will support DA in hung metros". The M&G Online. Archived from the original on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  31. ↑ https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/1871025/reasons-why-the-eff-rejects-the-political-party-funding-bill/
  32. ↑ Economic Freedom Fighters. "Central Command Team". effonline.org. Archived from the original on 12 August 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  33. ↑ Poloko Tau (21 August 2013). "'Sushi King' quits EFF leadership". Independent Online. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  34. ↑ SAPA (26 August 2013). "Kunene quits EFF". News24. Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  35. ↑ "Dali Mpofu joins EFF - Cape Times". IOL.co.za. 4 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  36. ↑ "The supporter profiles of SA`s three largest parties". Politicsweb. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  37. 1 2 "2014 National and Provincial Elections Results - 2014 National and Provincial Election Results". IEC. Archived from the original on 10 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  38. ↑ "Results Summary - All Ballots" (PDF). elections.org.za. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  39. ↑ Emsie Ferreira (6 August 2015). "Lets meet in court, Malema tells Zuma". Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  40. ↑ Jan Gerber (27 February 2018). "National Assembly adopts motion on land expropriation without compensation". Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  41. ↑ Kwandokuhle Njoli (30 September 2018). "Comrades see red as students back EFF on campus". Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  42. ↑ Natasha Marrian (29 July 2013). "Mantashe hits out at EFF for 'distorting the Freedom Charter'". Business Day. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  43. ↑ Shanti Aboobaker (29 December 2013). "Numsa wary of 'capitalist' Malema". Sunday Independent. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014.
  44. ↑ Siphokazi Magadla (2013). "EFF & the Return of the Warrior Citizen". Thought Leader. Archived from the original on 10 April 2014.
  45. 1 2 "EXCLUSIVE: Why Anonymous 'hacked' the SABC, Gupta websites". Fin24. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  46. ↑ "SACP supports ANC, condemns Julius Malema`s propagation of war in the strongest possible terms, calls on the police ?to act swiftly in terms of the rule of law". www.sacp.org.za. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  47. ↑ EFF’s KZN man has criminal past Archived 22 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine., BHEKI MBANJWA, The Daily News, 2014
  48. ↑ Floyd Shivambu: Despicable Me Archived 24 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine., Sipho Hlongwane, The Daily Maverick, 2012
  49. ↑ Remembering Thomas Sankara, the EFF’s muse Archived 24 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine., Rebecca Davis, The Daily Maverick, 2013
  50. ↑ Elections Analysis: The Economic Freedom Fighters Archived 22 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine., Sonja Bornman, Feminist SA, 2013
  51. ↑ EFF: Two senior party officials accused of involvement in 2008 gang rape Archived 22 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine., Rebecca Davis, The Daily Maverick, 2013
  52. ↑ The EFF and the Question of National Unity Archived 13 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine., Duncan, Jane, SACSIS WEBSITE, 29 JAN, 2014
  53. ↑ Sain, Raahil (8 March 2016). "'EFF must #PayBackTheMoney for damage to varsities'". Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  54. ↑ "IEC disqualifies EFF councillor for racist tweet". eNCA. 29 August 2016. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  55. ↑ de Lange, Ilse (29 February 2016). "EFF's 'petrol bomb recipe' fuels Tuks fears". The Citizen. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  56. ↑ "Malema slammed for comments on whites". ENCA. 8 November 2016. Archived from the original on 17 April 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  57. ↑ @FloydShivambu (13 Jan 2018). "That @hm nonsense of a clothing store is now facing consequences for its racism" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  58. ↑ "H&M monkey hoodie sparks outrage for "racist" image - CBS News". CBS News. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  59. ↑ "Critics call for boycott of H&M over 'racist' advert - Daily Mail Online". Daily Mail. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  60. ↑ "H&M apologizes for using black child to sell 'coolest monkey' top". CNN. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  61. ↑ "H&M slammed as racist for 'monkey in the jungle' hoodie". CNBC. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  62. ↑ "H&M is apologizing for a product image called out as racist - Quartz". Quartz. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  63. ↑ "H&M apologises following backlash over 'racist' image of child model on website - The Independent". The Independent. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  64. ↑ "Shoppers slam H&M over 'racist' advert showing black youngster wearing a 'coolest monkey in the jungle' hoodie". The Sun. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  65. ↑ "H&M Faces Twitter Backlash for "Racist" Hoodie - Pret-a-Reporter". The Hollywood Reporter. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  66. ↑ "South Africa politician vows to 'remove' white mayor". Mail Online. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  67. ↑ "'We are cutting the throat of whiteness' – Malema on plans to remove Trollip". News24. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  68. ↑ "South Africans don't share Malema's racist views - Maimane | IOL News". Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  69. ↑ reporter, Citizen (7 October 2018). "Expelled EFF members accuse Malema, Shivambu of corruption, want to work with Hawks". The Citizen. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  70. ↑ Motau, Terry (10 October 2018). "The Great Bank Heist: Investigator's Report to the Prudential Authority" (PDF). South African Reserve Bank. p. 135. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  71. ↑ Van Wyk, Pauli (11 October 2018). "The Shivambu Brothers and the Great VBS Heist". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  72. ↑ Jika, Sabelo Skiti, Thanduxolo (12 October 2018). "PIC, VBS, Floyd and his baby brother". The M&G Online. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  73. ↑ Ndlozi, Mbuyiseni Quintin (11 March 2018). "EFF STATEMENT ON VBS CURATORSHIP | EFF: Economic Freedom Fighters". Economic Freedom Fighters. Retrieved 2018-10-13.

Further reading

  • van Onselen, Gareth (29 July 2013). "Malema steals young communists' thunder". Business Day. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  • Pillay, Verashni (21 February 2014). "EFF: You want land, a loan? You got it". Mail & Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  • Julius Malema (preface), EFF 2014 Elections Manifesto, Economic Freedom Fighters.
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