EFF LEADER Julius Malema has praised the party’s influence on the South African and African political landscape as the party marked seven years since its establishment on Sunday.
During a virtual rally Malema said many had written his party off when the former ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president established it in 2013 after being expelled from the governing party.
“The EFF has represented those who have lost hope and is today the only reliable alternative to change the lives of our people. Our history is that of aggressive war against capital and corruption,” Malema said.
He said the red berets had over the past seven years been at the forefront of the struggle to defend the rights of the poor, women and the LGBTQI+ community, including through legislative campaigns, adding that the party would continue to agitate for a socio-economic change in the country and in Africa in the coming years.
“We will continue to do this by waging struggles in the corridors of Parliament and in the dusty streets of our communities as the movement of the poor and the downtrodden,” Malema said.
He accused the ANC of having lost the capacity and the imagination to provide necessary leadership in the country.
“It has become the desk of white monopoly capital that appoints different managers every five years to manage the affairs of the rich at the expense of the poor. The former liberation movement no longer has any coherent programme to change the conditions of our people and have sold their duties of governing this country to the highest bidder,” he said.
Malema accused ANC leaders of being in continual factional fights over “their turn to eat” while disregarding the plight of the poor.
“These are no longer any politics. It has become about self-enrichment and personal advancement while our people remain in poverty. Political power in the control of the post-1994 government is meaningless as it has not come with economic freedom. The government of the day has not used its political power to win the battles that began during the wars of dispossession and it has shown no intention that it will do so,” he said.
Malema said the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed that the ANC-led government had failed to build a proper health care system for the general population, who he said continued to live in reserves and shacks “on top of one another”.
“There is a general degeneration in SA and the EFF is alive today to correct that historical mistake. Over the past seven years, it has been the EFF that has bravely called out the mediocrity that we have been subjected to. While the ruling party calls on the people to be loyal to them because of the struggle against apartheid, the EFF has been able to reveal a better future and offer sustainable solutions,” he said.
