The Economic Freedom Fighters has launched some 3‚900 branches across the country and will be contesting in all 278 municipalities in the upcoming local elections.
Party leader Julius Malema‚ after campaigning in in four provinces over the last two weeks‚ on Monday said councillors for the EFF had to be grounded in their communities and members of the EFF in good standing.
The 2016 polls will be the first local government election contested by the EFF‚ a breakaway from the ANC. It has had a impact on the SA political landscape due to its strategy to expose the ANC’s failings in Parliament. It obtained 6% of the vote in the 2014 national election.
Malema said branches selected the councillor candidates and this cannot be tampered with unless the candidate has a criminal record. Proportional representation candidates were selected by branches and then scrutinised by regional leaders and placed in order of importance.
Malema described the campaign as a “tough contest“‚ which has already led to an EFF member being shot in clashes with the ANC in Mpumalanga.
The party was also pelted with stones in KwaZulu-Natal last week.
“Parties must be allowed to campaign freely... the maturity of democracy means the ability to tolerate one another and campaign freely‚” he said.
The EFF has written to the Electoral Commission of South Africa to complain about the incidents of intimidation and violence in KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga.
EFF officially complains to IEC about intimidation
The Economic Freedom Fighters has launched some 3‚900 branches across the country and will be contesting in all 278 municipalities in the upcoming local elections.
Party leader Julius Malema‚ after campaigning in in four provinces over the last two weeks‚ on Monday said councillors for the EFF had to be grounded in their communities and members of the EFF in good standing.
The 2016 polls will be the first local government election contested by the EFF‚ a breakaway from the ANC. It has had a impact on the SA political landscape due to its strategy to expose the ANC’s failings in Parliament. It obtained 6% of the vote in the 2014 national election.
Malema said branches selected the councillor candidates and this cannot be tampered with unless the candidate has a criminal record. Proportional representation candidates were selected by branches and then scrutinised by regional leaders and placed in order of importance.
Malema described the campaign as a “tough contest“‚ which has already led to an EFF member being shot in clashes with the ANC in Mpumalanga.
The party was also pelted with stones in KwaZulu-Natal last week.
“Parties must be allowed to campaign freely... the maturity of democracy means the ability to tolerate one another and campaign freely‚” he said.
The EFF has written to the Electoral Commission of South Africa to complain about the incidents of intimidation and violence in KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga.
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