THE EFF has put its recent internal upheavals behind it and is looking forward to rebuilding its structures and reconnecting with the people this year as well as fighting the Government of National Unity (GNU).
On Friday, EFF leader Julius Malema addressed the first day of the party’s first plenum after last month’s national People’s Assembly at the Zebula Golf Estate and Spa in Bela-Bela, Limpopo.
He described the recently promulgated Expropriation Act, which created ructions in the GNU this week, as a cosmetic measure to address the land question.
Malema said the Act does not fully address the need for expropriation of land without compensation, and that the question of custodianship must be defended from the outrage of racists who oppose even slight steps to return the land to the rightful owners.
As a result, the EFF will return its proposed legislation granting the state custodianship over land by retabling the amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution to expropriate land without compensation.
Malema said the situation in South Africa under the GNU, which he described as an ANC-DA coalition government, has not improved and has in fact entrenched massive corruption and policy uncertainty.
”It has become increasingly clear that the unity of convenience with right-wing forces and capital by the former liberation movement will result in permanent contradictions and dilute the pursuit of social change and alleviation of poverty and unemployment,” he explained.
Malema said the coalition partners are in a permanent state of conflict on ideological questions and implementation of otherwise progressive legislation, and that the GNU established to ensure that the EFF is kept out of power at all costs.
However, the EFF will ensure progressive legislation, such as the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act, is implemented without compromises or delay.
The Bela Act has been another piece of legislation that caused divisions among parties in the GNU after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed it into law last year.
”We must defend the principle of lawmaking processes as enshrined in the Constitution because the so-called GNU does not have the power to reverse or review the bills which have already passed in Parliament,” Malema said.
He continued: “Any organisation that sits in the GNU and wants to utilise that platform to undermine the lawmaking process of Parliament which defeated them must be called out as constitutional delinquents who do not respect democracy.”
Malema said democracy remained democracy even when it does not favour a particular view and that this principle must be defended at all costs.
On the state of the EFF, he said the party has emerged unharmed and ready to pick up the baton towards defending, rebuilding and advancing its generational mission of “economic freedom in our lifetime”.
The EFF saw its support decline during last year’s national and provincial elections and a number of its prominent leaders such as former deputy president Floyd Shivambu, erstwhile national chairperson Dali Mpofu, MPs Mzwanele Manyi, and ex-public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane left the party to join former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party.
Its former national spokesperson, Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, was barred from attending the assembly and resigned as party MP earlier this month.
However, Malema maintained that the EFF was stronger than ever.
”We have begun a new chapter and we stand here stronger than ever. We will no longer mourn but we will organise the enemy who stands in the way of the freedom of our people - whoever that enemy may be,” he said.
According to Malema, the party has closed the chapters of contestation, division, infiltration and has now begun journey of unity of purpose and unity of principle.
He said the EFF was stronger than ever before and declared 2025 the year of the picketlines, which refers to where the party will be operating on a daily basis as the advanced detachment of the working class.
Malema explained that the battlefield will not be in offices or in never-ending meetings but will be on the streets and in communities.
”It is the year where we return to the streets and to the people in order to report that the EFF is alive and well,and remain at their service regardless of what they have thought of us in the past,” said Malema, adding that it was time to focus on the rebuilding process.
He said this year it will, therefore, be compulsory for all commissars, leaders and provincial structures, members of municipal councils, legislatures and Parliament, sub-regional structures and branches to embark on a programme of action and service delivery on a weekly basis.
The EFF will establish a performance review system for all deployed members and representatives with transparent reporting mechanisms, Malema said.