EFF NPA: ‘For the first time, we’re under threat of disruption’ – Malema
‘Attempts to destroy the EFF will set the freedom of our people back for another 100 years,’ said EFF leader Julius Malema.
EFF leader addresses delegates at the party's National People's Assembly in Nasrec. Picture: EWN/Jacques Nelles
JOHANNESBURG - Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema believes the party is for “the first time under a genuine threat of disruption that risks delaying our freedom for generations to come”.
He delivered the party’s political report from the Nasrec Expo Centre on Friday as the red berets’ 3rd National People's Assembly (NPA) kicked off under the theme: Defend, Rebuild and Advance the Struggle of Economic Freedom.
His report is a reflection of the party’s performance in the past five years.
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With 2,500 delegates expected to elect new leadership for the next five years, the NPA is set to conclude on Sunday.
"We have the duty to defend the gains of our emancipation movement and the ideas of the revolution from distortion and sabotage because attempts to destroy the EFF will set the freedom of our people back for another 100 years. The EFF remains the most potent and viable weapon for the liberation of African people..." Malema said.
He said the NPA is “the highest demonstration of democracy within the EFF" adding that it “will determine the political direction of the EFF”.
Malema also reflected on the red berets’ poor performance at the May general elections, saying they experienced their “first electoral decline and suffered unprecedented levels of sabotage and infiltration”.
The party managed to garner 9.52% of the national votes after the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
Malema is expected to be at the party’s helm for a third term. This comes as the red berets Deputy President position remains vacant after Floyd Shivambu’s exit shortly after the May polls.
This was due to internal squabbles and finger-pointing after the party’s electoral decline.
Shivambu, who is now the MK Party’s Secretary General, has since invited the red berets to join in their first anniversary at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, in Durban.
But the EFF’s outgoing Secretary General Marshall Dlamini did not entertain the notion, saying he did not receive communication from the MK Party in this regard.
Nominations for the party’s top six positions are likely to be made overnight on Friday, followed by voting.
Of the critical leadership positions, all eyes are peeled to see who will occupy Shivambu’s former position.