EFF to nominate mayoral candidate for Joburg
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema announced the party would field a mayoral candidate for the City of Joburg to replace former mayor Herman Mashaba who resigned from the Democratic Alliance (DA) last month.
“The EFF will field a candidate for the mayoral position when the current mayor vacates his position on Wednesday. The leadership will announce the name in due course,” said Malema.
Speaking at Nasrec Expo Centre, south of Johannesburg, yesterday he announced that the party would be holding its second National People’s Assembly to elect new leadership.
The conference was set to take place from December 13 to 16.
Malema said the EFF was ready to govern the City of Joburg.
“We are now going to govern. You support us in Johannesburg/ Tshwane, and we will support you. We are not going to enter any coalitions, there will be no interference. We will remain as the opposition,” he said.
Xolani Dube, a political analyst from the Xubera Institute for Research and Development, said the resignation of Mashaba and the collapse of a good coalition in the City of Joburg created a crisis and was a setback for the EFF.
“The EFF is in a very critical position right now. They don’t want to be in power as their mandate is to lead from behind.
“The resignation of Mashaba caused political instability for them and they might select someone from a smaller party to govern Joburg,” Dube said.
He said the possibility of an EFF candidate governing Joburg was very slight. Malema also voiced concern about allegations of contestants buying votes.
“I am aware of people who are being asked for bank account details so money can be sent to their bank accounts.
“We must expel these people who are sending money. Once the money is sent, we will publish those names because we completely discourage money [for votes],” he said
He said the party was also concerned at the mismanagement of public resources illustrated by the large amounts of irregular expenditure and the failure of the so-called new dawn to provide clear direction for the stateowned enterprises.
“The EFF is concerned by the rising levels of unemployment, and lack of a believable strategy on how this should be addressed,” Malema added.
The EFF’s national people’s assembly would address proposals on how the economy should be managed and how jobs should be created to defeat the poverty and inequality that continued to ravage South African society. Some of the main issues were: “The land and agrarian reform perspective looks at the resolution of the land issue as the most important resolution needed for the emancipation of all South Africans.
“The perspective on gender struggles acknowledges that the struggle for the emancipation of women and gender non-conformity is one that cannot be divorced from the struggle of black people as the marginalised collective.
“The health and education perspective looks at the overview of public health and education in South Africa, makes a diagnosis of current challenges facing health and education.”
The EFF is in a critical position right now. Xolani Dube Political analyst from the Xubera Institute for Research and Development.