Julius Malema unveils EFF’s grandiose plan to take over DA-led Western Cape 

As the country gears up for the 2024 general elections, the EFF in the Western Cape — which currently has 3% in voter support — has ambitious plans of toppling the DA, and governing the province with an outright majority. 

To achieve this, it plans to attract into its ranks those who "do not own the means of production, including the landless, poor white and black residents, white women, housewives and black people who are in the majority but continue to live in squalor".  

This is according to the leader of the red berets, Julius Malema who was addressing the party’s provincial 3rd assembly at the weekend. 

“There is a huge potential in this province yet you are 3%, for what? The leadership that is elected here, the delegates that are gathered here. You have a difficult task and a difficult question to answer. And that question is how do we move from 3% into 51% and take over without having to crease to kiss frogs because we go around kissing frogs in these coalitions,” said Malema.  

The congress elected Unathi Ntame as chairperson, Thembalethu Klaas as deputy chair, Mbulelo Magwala as secretary, Thozama Mangcayi as deputy secretary and Aisha Cassim as treasurer.   

The collective was elected unopposed after other candidates failed to meet the threshold. 

Although the EFF failed to garner enough support to govern a single metro during the 2021 local government elections Malema was confident this would not be the case in 2024.   

The EFF recorded modest growth in Cape Town, beating Good to third place. It lost ground in Drakenstein (Paarl), remained level in Stellenbosch and registered small growth in George and Worcester.

In the 2019 national elections, the DA obtained 55.45% of the regional votes, with the ANC in second place at 28.63%, and EFF at 4.04%.

“Comrades, the EFF here in the Western Cape has got a huge potential, do not be scared, go to every street, go to every house, go to every factory, go to every university be everywhere where our people exist and contest the political space, the EFF will emerge victorious in this province,” said Malema. 

Last year, the red berets won majority support from voters and snatched the World Heritage Site of Robben Island, a tiny seat of just 144 registered voters. In the 2019 general elections, the ANC had the majority showing in the voting district, with 55% of the vote. in the local elections in 2021, the EFF obtained 51.67% of the votes cast. 

Voting patterns 

The ANC has been working tirelessly to remove the DA from power in metros across Gauteng by forming an alliance with the EFF. It has successfully ousted City of Joburg Speaker Vasco da Gama and former mayor Mpho Phalatse — now Ekurhuleni mayor Tania Campbell is next on its hit list, Daily Maverick reported.  

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-13-eff-eyes-ekurhuleni-mayorship-in-marriage-with-anc-say-insiders/

The ANC has brought forth a motion of no confidence against Campbell, while the EFF was expected to vote with the ruling party, Malema said it would only do so if it is in the best interest of the party.   

“If the EFF doesn't want to vote for the ANC in Ekurhuleni, it will never happen. We will not vote for the ANC because CIC and Mzwandile Masina [former mayor] are friends. We are not going to use those tools of analysis to determine how we vote in Ekurhuleni. We look at what is in the best interest of the EFF now, what are its strategic objectives? And which tactics do we use…” 

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In this province, Malema said they would not use the same voting pattern but aimed for an outright victory.    

Coalition in Western Cape? 

“We do not want a coalition in the Western Cape. We want an outright win, which will put the racists in the right place and govern this province in the best interest of our people. The ANC has failed. You have to come in. The ANC got a chance to govern this province. If the ANC once got a chance to govern this province, it means it’s possible for us to get this province without any form of coalitions.” 

To achieve its mission, Malema urged party members to remain grounded amongst the working class, in the same breath, he slammed his party members in the province for their slow growth and inability to attract landless residents. 

♦️Must Watch♦️

The President and Commander In Chief @Julius_S_Malema addressing delegates at the 3rd Western Cape #EFFProvincialPeoplesAssembly

-It is only the EFF that can become a permanent solution to the crimes that constitute the lives of our people here pic.twitter.com/6XMq0L1P7P

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) October 15, 2022

“Why do you say your first cardinal pillar is expropriation of land without compensation, and at the same time be in a position that you are unable to attract the landless people of the Western Cape? Because the cardinal pillar should automatically attract the landless people to come to the organisation of the land.  

“Are you just talking about the expropriation of land without compensation from a theoretical point of view, without putting that into practice? Or is the leadership of the EFF in the eastern Western Cape constituted by laziness that is unable to attract the people to come to the organisation of the land because the landless people in their majority, they are found here in the Western Cape,”  

The red berets leader said landless people in the province are being pushed away from the mountains and the sea; this was evident as millions stayed in squalor. 

“Our people live like animals in the Western Cape. Yet we’re told this is the best-run province under the Democratic Alliance, true that. But it is best run for the whites and not for the majority of our people who reside in this province of Western Cape and in the City of Cape Town.”

Occupy land 

The EFF has in the past come under fire for championing the illegal occupation of land in several parts of the country.  

Despite this, Malema instructed the delegates to occupy “rich land” in upmarkets areas including Stellenbosch and Camps Bay. 

“Have we ever attempted to occupy land in Camps Bay and settled our people in a beautiful prime land of the Western Cape? Or we are taking our people into risky rotten lands. And when it rains our people get washed away?”  

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-04-06-eff-land-occupations-rondebosch-and-camps-bay-are-next/

Part of the EFF’s strategy to govern the province is to destabilise the comfort of the minority, he revealed.  

Policing powers

Malema also took a swipe at the DA government’s attempt for the province’s ‘best policing’ to have more policing powers — with support from a new group called the Western Cape Devolution Working Group.  

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-09-28-das-zille-pushes-for-devolution-in-western-cape-starting-with-policing-power-working-group-established/

Daily Maverick reported on Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille saying the working group’s initial focus will be on “the devolution of policing powers to the province and clearing the legislative hurdles which prevent the Western Cape premier from exercising his constitutional right to directly consult the Western Cape people on specific issues via referendums”.   

Malema said this would not happen as it only benefited a handful in the province. 

“The best policing is for the best suburbs of Cape Town and for the whites, not for ordinary people. You can have a situation where 400 mass shooting cases get reported to the police in the Western Cape and 90% of all 400 cases of shootings are happening among our people. And no single white person is affected by the killings that are happening in the Cape Flats and everywhere else.” DM