Floyd Shivambu says foreign nationals must not be ill-treated because they are undocumented. Picture: Timothy Bernard Independent Newspapers
The EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu has dismissed claims that the party advocated for illegal immigrants to enter the country illegally.
Shivambu was clarifying a statement by party leader Julius Malema that foreign nationals should find creative ways to get into South Africa.
He said the EFF believed that everyone in the country must be documented but that did not mean that those who did not have proper documentation should be ill treated.
“We need to have a legislative framework that protects everyone who's in SA, whether they are here lawfully or unlawfully. We cannot treat immigrants in a sub-human way,” the EFF deputy president said.
On the upcoming elections, EFF’s second-in-command was confident that his party would garner more votes than in the past.
Shivambu said the EFF had seen phenomenal growth in all regions across South Africa.
Furthermore, he said as an organisation, they were not shaken by the establishment of MK Party, saying that the EFF had not lost a single member in KwaZulu-Natal to the MK Party, as opposed to the ANC, which according to him, had lost members to the new party.
“We have never lost any member of the EFF to the MK Party. We are not affected by the MK Party and I don't think it will displace us.”
The party had previously said that when this year’s elections results are announced, the EFF would emerge as the second biggest party in the country.
Late last year, Shivambu alluded that the party would have representation in all voting districts and stations across the country in order to change the political landscape.
The party, he said, would be targeting first-time voters and wanted registered voters to confirm that they appeared on the voters roll.
“So now we’re just verifying that all the provinces, all the regions and all the sub regions of the EFF have established what we call the branch elections task forces which are responsible for co-ordination and doing work of elections at what level.
“And then, of course, the second phase will be at voting district (VD) level of 23 000 VDs in South Africa, which are represented through voting stations,” Shivambu said at the time.
The Star
sipho.jack@inl.co.za
Related Topics: