The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are making a major push for economic rights and redistribution the central focus of their 2024 election campaign in South Africa scheduled for May 29.
On Friday, the party released excerpts of its manifesto under the slogan “Our Land and Jobs Now! Stop Load Shedding!”
“Let us go out in our numbers on the 29th of May 2024 and vote for Economic Freedom In Our Lifetime,” it said.
“The EFF 2024 Elections Manifesto is a clear programme of action, particularly our commitments on land, jobs, energy and electricity, education, public safety, and all other areas under the clarion call,
“Our land and jobs now! stop load shedding!”
The key pillars of the EFF’s platform include:
- Accelerated land redistribution to address racial economic disparities
- Major job creation initiatives and support for workers’ rights
- Solving the nation’s recurring power outages and energy crisis
- Free quality education from childhood through university
- Boosting community policing and efforts to fight crime and corruption
Malema positioned the EFF’s agenda as a “clarion call” for economic emancipation, contrasting it with what the party calls a lack of progress by the ruling African National Congress. However, critics have questioned how the EFF would fund its ambitious proposed programs.
With a month to the elections, the EFF comments represent an opening salvo in what is expected to be a hard-fought campaign.
The party is hoping its populist-themed message resonates with South Africans frustrated over lack of economic opportunity and lingering inequalities almost three decades after apartheid’s end..
