You see them in full red attire in Parliament and The Economic Freedom Fighters is celebrating their 12-year anniversary this year and the red berets will host their celebrations on Saturday, 26 July 2025, in Khayelitsha.
Bush Radio News spoke to a Member of the EFF, Central
Command Team, Inam Kula, ahead of the celebrations on Saturday.
COURTESY: EFF South AfricaKula reflected on how the EFF was formed.
‘’Twelve years generally is quite a huge fit for an
organization such as the EFF, which has a lot of radical policies, particularly
in a context of a conservative society such as South Africa. I think in the
main, the celebration is a reflection of the struggle that we have been forging
for economic liberation for 12 years, but I think it's always important to
preface it or talk to why the EFF was formed. The EFF was formed at the
backdrop of 34 mine workers being killed in Marikana for asking for a decent
living wage, but this was not just about those 34 mine workers, but it was also
symbolic of the system of oppression that black people are still subjected to
in this country. There was a clarion call to all activists, community leaders,
the clergy, and people or concerned citizens of this country who wanted to make
a change. After that, there was a meeting, and the resolution of that meeting
was to form a movement that would not only liberate us politically, but also
economically. We know that in 1994 South Africa went through a democratic
transition, and we attained political freedom, but the material conditions of
people on the ground, still haven't changed and a lot of people are still
oppressed economically. So this moment then stands to celebrate the struggle
that we're fighting through and also to talk about what is to come.’’
Kula touched on the EFF’s biggest achievements since its
formation in 2013.
‘’The discourse around certain issues in the country, such
as the land issue. We have a lot of objective missions which are enshrined in
our seven cardinal pillars. You can see people starting to speak about the land
issue, speaking about free education. Political discourse and also people
engaging in Parliament. Before the EFF was formed, not a lot of people used to
watch or engage in political issues of the country, so that was one of the
biggest ones. But I think even in the spheres of government, if we look at
Parliament, for example, the EFF was one of the first parties to publicly and
consistently expose corruption in Parliament. We can look at sort of the
political involvement and state capture, which eventually led to the Zondo
Commission taking accountable measures. Another one, is the EFF at the
forefront of the Fees Must Fall movement. This year, we saw the EFF condemning
the VAT hike increase, because we know what the effects would be in our
communities and to the everyday person.’
With regards to the EFF recorded a decline in supporters as
it is the fourth political party nationally, (previously third) and political
figures such as Floyd Shivambu and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi no longer part of the EFF,
Kula said the party is rebuilding itself.
‘’If we analse the so-called decrease, it's largely located
in KZN and we can attribute that to the formation of the MK party.Iif we look
at the numbers in terms of what we got in the previous election, there hasn't
been that decline. What we should have done probably was to be able to take
those numbers and turn them into negative numbers. But by and large, it was
numbers that came from disgruntled Zuma voters, which then in turn went back to
Zuma after the elections in 2024. So I think In that sense, one can't really
say that there has been a decline, but obviously we need to put our foot on the
ground and we need to ensure that we rebuild the organization, because in our
National People's Assembly last year, the theme or the motto was that we needed
to defend, rebuild, and advance, and we have defended the organization.’’
‘’From those senior leaders that we thought that they were
part of the movement, that we thought that their objective mission or
generational mission was the same as ours - it was quite clear that they are
interested in self-enrichment and also maneuvering their own political agendas
or individual agendas. Currently, we are preparing to go through the local
government elections, we are keeping it on the ground - the struggles are real
and we're fighting those battles on a day-to-day basis. There's also a new
generation of leaders that is coming up. There's a plethora of young leaders
that are upcoming. We see them in Parliament, like Naledi Chirwa, amongst
others. The EFF is still in good hands, there's no worry from our side,’’ she
added.
The EFF’s 12th anniversary celebration was originally
scheduled to take place in Mtata in the Eastern Cape, but due to the
devastating floods, it will now be held here in Cape Town.
‘’So every single year, we look around the country for
where we would be hosting our anniversary. So it was going to be in Mmtatha,
but unfortunately, due to the flood, as I mentioned before, we did not feel
that it would be right, especially when it's mass mourning in Mmtatha,so we
then decided to take the funds that we were going to be using there to help the
victims of the floods. And our leadership has been on the ground. So then we
decided t move and go to Cape Town. One of the reasons why we decided to move
it to Cape Town was because Western Cape is the only province that has not
hosted the anniversary and previously, this was due to issues such as weather.
It's quite good that it came to Cape Town, because Cape Town is the entry point
of colonialism in South Africa. This is where racism is most rife, this is
where we see the most disparities or the most differences between, black and
white people who find us poor and rich, we have a divided nation here. We see
the conditions in Cape Flats, there's a lot of unemployment, child and
substance abuse, just general poverty,’’ said Kula.
She touched on what supporters can expect on Saturday.
‘’It is a massive celebration. We are always on the ground,
always working, so this is the one time where it's just downtime, but also it's
a time to reflect on our journey, a time to celebrate our achievements, but
also just to gather amongst ourselves as fighters, but also with the
communities that we have invited. But the Commander-in-Chief, Julius Malema,
will be giving a keynote address, and after that it will be a festival with a
huge lineup of artists,’’ said Inam Kula, Member of the EFF, Central Command
Team.
The EFF will hold its 12th anniversary rally at the
Khayelitsha Rugby Stadium, Section Z, Cape Town, from 12p.m
Done By: Mitchum George
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