Pretoria - EFF leader Julius Malema has vowed to wrest control of the Limpopo capital, Polokwane, from the ANC in the local government elections.
He was speaking in Moletjie outside Polokwane, where he also announced candidates contesting wards in the municipality.
In 2016 the red berets surprised the country with a massive performance in the vote, winning 16% of the overall vote in the province.
The party chose to be in bed with the DA. The coalition saw the cities of Johannesburg and Tshwane being ruled by the DA, with the support of the EFF. In Polokwane, the EFF got 27% of the vote in the same year.
Speaking at the rally, Malema said: “Polokwane is gone. In 2016 we were the new kids on the block and we were at 27%. Our plan is to double that, then we get 60%. We need to double the numbers.
“Doubling the numbers and the EFF is the same WhatsApp group. This is going to happen and we are taking this municipality. We are now more experienced. We did not know then.
“In 2014, immediately when we got into the national government election, we were grappling with understanding parliamentary opposition politics so that we could start competing.”
Malema, who comes from Seshego outside Polokwane, said the party was more experienced and knew how to take over from the ANC.
His party is the official opposition to the ANC in the province, followed by the DA.
The ANC has been ruling Polokwane with a big majority since 2014.
However, in 2016 the EFF garnered the highest percentage of voter and council seats across the country, with a total of 190 seats in municipalities.
“We are coming here with women and men of integrity. We are targeting areas that we have not performed well in before. We are putting pressure groups. All resources have been put there so that we shake the whole of Limpopo because it (Limpopo) is the biggest feeder of the ANC nationally and that base must be tampered with if we are serious about inroads towards 2024.”
He took a swipe at the ruling party, saying his organisation should take advantage of the ANC’s internal problems.
“The ANC must be shaken. We have done our homework. To win a ward you need a simple majority. If there is an ANC candidate plus three independent candidates from the same party, it means the ANC has four candidates.
“So why would we not win the ward? This is an internal ANC problem which they must be confronted with.”
Pretoria News