EFF looks to boost its membership
The mistakes of governing party offers lessons
The EFF is confident that it has learned from the ANC’S failures as it seeks to attract 1-million members before the end of this year.
The ANC, which begat the EFF when it expelled its youth league leaders including Julius Malema in 2012, has in recent times said it had attracted wrong quality of members, weakening the party at grassroots level.
Former president Thabo Mbeki, who has been tasked by the governing party to help unite warring factions in the Free State, has said the ANC needs to investigate the quality of its members. A similar observation has been made by former ANC secretary-general and deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
EFF deputy secretary-general Poppy Mailola said the party would not make the same mistake as the ANC. The red berets are not just pursuing numbers for the sake of it, but want people who believe in the party’s seven cardinal pillars and founding principles.
“This country is blessed with so many people, especially youngsters who see the
EFF as the answer to take this country forward. We are also aiming to recruit intelligent and smart people, who will bring value and success within our movement as the more quality people we have within the party, the more we can grow and empower one another through growth and success,” said Mailola.
“We want to invest in our members through guiding them to understand dynamics of politics of the EFF, and also help them to grow within the movement ranks. We have young people in this country who are visionaries and who believe in the vision of the EFF, and those are the people we need as members as their presence will help to push for the growth of the party.”
She also said Afriforum’s case against Malema had brought the spotlight to the party as Malema had made people understand the role of the EFF in the country.
“We are bringing all the information forward and exposing hypocrisy that is destroying our country. Our people are learning a lot on what the CIC is arguing at that court case, and this is also helping the party to grow as many people can clearly see how great our leader is,” she said. The EFF currently has about 600 000 members while the ANC boasts over 1-million members.