By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce the date for the 2024 national and provincial elections.
Malema said there is no logical reason or excuse to prolong the election date announcement any longer.
“Ramaphosa must accept that his term, that has been defined by failure, has come to an end and give the nation an election date so it can prepare itself for a future that does not include him. On the 4th of February 2024, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will hold its second registration weekend, and the EFF encourages all unregistered South Africans to register to vote and for those who have voted before to check if they still appear on the voter roll.”
Malema addressed a media briefing at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Kwazulu-Natal (KZN) on Friday.
This is as the party preparing to launch its manifesto next month in the province.
Malema also said that they would be happy if former president Jacob Zuma had announced that his vote would be in favour of his party. “So he decides to to go vote for non-existing things, and that is not going to help us displace the ANC,” he said.
This comes after Zuma announced last month that he will vote for MK in the upcoming elections.
He clarified that the EFF had nothing to do with MK, who joined it, or how they were campaigning for the nearing national elections.
Malema, however, remarked that Zuma was in denial about the ANC’s loss of control and power. He emphasised that no one could save the ANC from its decline.
He said Moses Mabhida Stadium will be filled on 13 February.
“We are happy to be here. Bayathanda or abathandi (whether they like it or not), we will be here in this stadium. This stadium will be filled up by our people,” he said.
Malema said the EFF demonstrated beyond any doubt that they’re a solid and sound organisation with the optimal capacity to organise and carry out their programmes successfully.
“That’s what we will continue to do even when we are the government of the province of all provinces, KZN and of South Africa from this year onwards. We take this opportunity to report to the people of South Africa that the targets we set ourselves in preparation for the 2024 general elections are all fully met.”
He said when they established the elections machinery in August 2023, they set themselves a target of establishing voting districts elections task forces in all South Africa’s 23 296 voting districts.
“We are happy to report that the EFF has functional and verified voting districts elections task forces in all the 23 296. We can boldly confirm that as of the 2nd of January 2024, the EFF has verified and audited 481 649 ground forces who are volunteers in all the voting districts.”
Malema said they call on the young people of South Africa and all the remaining members of the EFF to join in as volunteers and organisers for elections victory in 2024.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of EFFSA.