By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has encouraged his supporters to take advantage of a weak Gauteng ANC and remove it from power in 2024.
Malema was addressing thousands of Soweto residents at the party’s 67th anniversary celebration of the Freedom Charter in Kliptown on Sunday.
The Freedom Charter was officially adopted on Sunday, June 26 1955 at a gathering attended by about 3,000 people.
The historic document was adopted at the Congress of the People in Kliptown and proposed as an alternative constitution by those opposed to apartheid.
The EFF leader said party members needed to be disciplined as they prepare for their provincial conferences this year.
Malema said the EFF would not tolerate infighting and battles for positions. Instead, members were expected to grow the party support base in preparation for the 2024 national elections.
“We need BGMs [branch general meetings] to take place and, in the process, elect strong candidates to take over from the ANC instead of degenerating into infighting.”
He was especially scathing about his party’s Johannesburg region.
“Johannesburg is a hospital, because it’s as if they [EFF members in the region] are sleeping,” Malema said.
Malema said that even if one of the ANC’s most popular leaders, the late president Nelson Mandela, were to come back to life, the party would still be unable to regain support, especially in Gauteng.
He said his party’s ongoing campaign to get one million members by December 2022 should focus on Gauteng. He set a target of getting 250 000 new members in the province.
During last year’s municipal elections, the ANC lost power in all the three metros and dropped to below 50% in terms of national support for the first time since the 1994 elections.
Malema said that in 1994, there was political freedom, but it was meaningless, and that they were now doing the work to achieve what the delegates actually wanted.
Watch Live in the Video Below.
CIC Julius Malema Addresses The Freedom Charter Day Rally https://t.co/iRPghZvjsS
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) June 26, 2022
Video Courtesy of EFFSA.
Meanwhile the ANC has called on all South Africans to intensify the struggle for fundamental economic transformation, spokesperson Pule Mabe said on Sunday.
In a statement to mark the 67th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, Mabe said the charter has over the decades of struggle represented a vision of an alternative future, the core values and aspirations of what South Africa wanted and strived for.
As we mark the 67th anniversary of this historic event, we reflect on how far we have come in giving effect to the demands of the Freedom Charter and what tasks we must undertake to realise the goal of a South Africa that belongs to all who live in it.
“Since the advent of democracy, South Africa has made remarkable progress towards realising the vision of the Freedom Charter, “he said.
Mabe said through the Constitution, the fundamental principle that South Africa belonged to all who lived in it and that the authority of government must be based on the will of the people was affirmed.
Over the course of the last 28 years, we have removed the discriminatory and exploitative practices of the past, enacted many of the rights demanded in the Freedom Charter and put in place policies and programmes to meet the basic needs of all South Africans.”
He said despite the progress, they had still not fully achieved the vision of the Freedom Charter.
“That task remains the central mission of the ANC and the broader democratic movement, and indeed of broader South African society. Our greatest challenge is to give effect to the demand that “The People Shall Share in the Country’s Wealth’.”