EFF takes fight to KZN ahead of elections
The EFF appears to be targeting KwaZuluNatal as an area of growth in the coming election, with deputy president Floyd Shivambu deployed full-time to the province.
This week the party went on a charm offensive as senior leaders paid a courtesy visit to King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, during which its president, Julius Malema, assured the monarch that Ingonyama Trust land is safe from the EFF’s policy of expropriation of land without compensation.
The party will hold its manifesto launch at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, a clear sign that it is serious about cementing a presence in the province.
Since Malema’s meeting with former president Jacob Zuma at Nkandla two years ago, the EFF has attracted former Zuma backers to its ranks. They include JG Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanyele Manyi, popular former Ukhozi FM presenter Linda Sibiya and former convener of the ANC Youth League task team Magasela Mzobe.
But Shivambu played down the party’s aggressive strategy in the province, saying it is not a special case.
“All EFF officials are deployed to different provinces and I am assigned to KZN. It’s standard in all elections. The whole of South
Africa constitutes a key battleground and KZN falls within that bracket.
“The ANC will be removed from political power in the whole of South Africa and certainly in KZN,” he said.
The EFF is one of only three parties to register growth in its electoral performance in the past two election cycles in the province — its share of the vote increased from 1.97% in 2014 to 9.96% in 2019.
While most of its voter share has traditionally been from the eThekwini region — where the party is set to launch its manifesto campaign — Shivambu said its focus will be on all 11 regions equally.
The EFF is in a coalition government with the ANC in eThekwini and chairs the city’s human settlements & infrastructure portfolio.
Asked if the party has any qualms about its coalition with the ANC, Shivambu said: “The EFF in eThekwini is on the path to repair the massive damages and underperformance of successive ANC governments. We are particularly concerned with the lacklustre approach to wastewater management and stabilisation of water supply to some areas. The service delivery crises that define eThekwini are as a result of years of neglect and indifference and the EFF will change that.”
During the most recent by-election, in Mkhambathini local municipality, the EFF received 14% of the vote.
The party’s record in by-elections in the province has been poor. It is one of three provinces where the EFF has failed to win any seats from the ANC since the 2021 local government elections.
Shivambu does not believe that this poor performance at local level is an indicator of the challenges going into 2024, saying he is positive of an EFF win.
“By-elections are not and have never been a measure of provincial and national elections outcomes. The EFF will win wards in KZN but we are not under any illusion that victory in one or two wards translates to provincial or national victory. A substantial number of people in KZN have a huge admiration and appreciation of the EFF. We are confident that the majority of voters will vote for the EFF next year,” he said.