Time is up ANC, warns EFF

Floyd Shivambu

Floyd Shivambu

Published Jan 20, 2017

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Johannesburg – The Economic Freedom Front says the time is up for the ANC and that the ruling party should pack its bags.

The party has gathered its central, regional and provincial structures for a three-day plenary session in Kempton Park to organise itself and strengthen its muscle in time for the 2019 general elections.

"We are preparing a machinery that must win national elections. We are preparing an organisation that must win elections in provinces and at national level. If we don't win we will possibly be number two. But one thing we know is that there will be a good number of provinces (we win). There won't be one party that wins elections," deputy president Floyd Shivambu said on the sidelines of the close meeting.

Up to 260 delegates are meeting for what seems to be intensive discussions which include EFF president and commander-in-chief Julius Malema's political report and the local government elections among other things.

Shivambu said the Plenum, which is an annual strategic planning workshop, will also focus on programmes that the party will undertake this year, These include what the party will do to strengthen the organisation's presence.

While the EFF infiltrated some voting districts in last year's local government elections, it has not realised a huge following in key provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape which are ANC strong holds.

"The organisation has assigned the senior leadership to provinces where we did not have a strong presence before ... The Commander is leading a core of EFFmembers in the KZN. He will be leading the process while the Deputy President will be in the Eastern Cape with the national chairperson," Shivambu said.

He continued: "We are giving priority to areas where the EFF has not meaningfully existed before....When we unleash the election machinery in 2019 it must be ready to attack, ready to convince the million of voters to vote for the EFF. In 2019 there must be a change of government."

And as the ANC wages the war against corruption and factionalism within its structures Shivambu said it was no surprise that the party faces a myriad of challenges.

"We are not worried about it. We knew from as early as 2013 when the EFF was formed that the ANC is going to self-destruct. So we are not shocked. Our founding manifesto also details the diagnosis and prognosis that says the ANC is going to self-destruct and it is doing exactly that. That is why EFF exists. In the process of self-destruction there is going to be a black progressive party that is going to take over political power and bring about economic freedom," he said.

The party will this year also hold its elective conferences in in KZN, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and North West.

Political Bureau

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