Cape Town - It will be the clash of the red berets this weekend in the Western Cape.
The ANC will launch it’s provincial election manifesto in Delft on Saturday while Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema will visit Delft and Blikkiesdorp on the same day.
In KwaZulu-Natal last weekend, a group of ANC supporters attacked EFF members, including Malema, when they visited Nkandla to hand over a house to President Jacob Zuma’s neighbour. Supporters from both parties wear red berets while social media is abuzz with claims on who were first.
It will be Malema’s first visit to the province since he established his party last year.
EFF provincial convener Nazier Paulsen said on Tuesday that Malema will have a blitz tour of the West Coast, the Overberg and visit Mitchells Plain and Blikkiesdorp in Delft on Saturday. Asked if they knew about the ANC’s planned event Paulsen said it was “unfortunate”.
ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman was unaware of Malema’s planned visit. “Malema is nothing more than just a copycat. We will have our launch and we are not interested in what this attention-seeker is doing.”
Paulsen said the EFF may not have enough money to distribute enough red berets to all supporters.
The EFF’s 15-member provincial command team and representatives from the six regions in the province met in Bonteheuwel last weekend.
Paulsen said Malema asked to meet farmworkers and fishermen in the province. “We will visit communities in De Doorns and fishermen on the West Coast to talk about quotas and their rights. Our oceans will be one of the first resource we will nationalise after the elections.”
The EFF said it aimed to get more than a million votes in the Western Cape alone during the elections..
In 2009 the DA was the only party to get over a million votes, while the ANC received 620 918 votes in the Western Cape.
Cape Times