JULIUS MALEMA | 12 years later, the EFF remains a revolutionary force for social justice and economic freedom

On July 26, we gathered in Khayelitsha to mark 12 years of the EFF, a movement born from the pain of 34 slain miners in Marikana and the cries of the marginalised.

Our movement can resonate with the pain experienced by our people as the celebrations were moved from Mthatha (which experienced devastating loss of lives due to adverse weather conditions). We could not celebrate in Mthatha while our people are grieving.

Our glorious organisation was founded in 2013 at Uncle Tom’s Hall in Soweto, where the EFF emerged not as a mere political party but as a revolutionary force to fight for economic freedom, dismantle inequality and restore dignity to a people betrayed by the unfulfilled promises of 1994. As we reflect on the journey travelled thus far, we recommit to a SA where justice is not a slogan but a reality.

The EFF was forged in the struggles of domestic workers, petrol attendants and the unemployed, who bear the weight of an exploitive system. It was born to unleash the voice of the voiceless and to accomplish economic emancipation in our lifetime.

The founding cardinal pillars, which include expropriation of land without compensation, nationalisation of mines and banks, free education, healthcare and sanitation, remain as urgent today as they were 12 years ago. The conditions that gave birth to these pillars are poverty, unemployment and racial inequality. These have not improved but have got worse under the callous leadership of the ANC.

Khayelitsha, home to more than a million black South Africans, mirrors this reality. From Jan van Riebeeck’s colonial land theft in 1652 to apartheid’s forced removals that created Khayelitsha in 1983, this township still embodies centuries of dispossession.

Under the DA, which governs the Western Cape, Khayelitsha endures an unreliable water supply, incomplete housing and lacks basic services. The DA boasts of clean audits, but reality says it only prioritises the manicured parks in Camps Bay while Khayelitsha faces potholes, bucket toilets and prolonged blackouts. The DA’s governance perpetuates spatial apartheid, where the rich thrive and the poor barely survive.

The DA’s claims of serving Khayelitsha are hollow, with public transport being a stark example. Now, no MyCiTi bus service reaches the township and trains are unsafe, draining dignity from workers and students. The DA governs for tourists and investors, not the unemployed youth or domestic workers.

Only the affluent people of Cape Town benefit from the DA’s presence. Our people are excluded and kept in a sea of poverty. And this is why the EFF exists to end this injustice of the DA. We want the people of Khayelitsha to have homes, water and not have their dignity stripped by relying on the bucket system in a city that claims to be for all its residents.

SA’s economy is failing. While China grows at 5% and Africa at 3.9%, our growth here at home limps at 0.58%, with projections revised to 1%. Youth unemployment exceeds 43% and we remain the world’s most unequal society. Inequality persists in this country because it is racial, which is why even today, residents of Constantia enjoy clean water and private healthcare, while the people of Khayelitsha endure power cuts and overcrowded clinics are the norm.

This crisis stems from an economy controlled by an unaccountable banking oligopoly. Six banks, holding more than R12-trillion, dictate who accesses loans or property and deliberately exclude black South Africans who form the majority of consumers. The EFF’s call to nationalise banks and mines aims to redirect this wealth to develop townships and create jobs.

The ANC-DA coalition worsens this through privatisation. Transnet’s ports and rail are handed to private operators and Eskom’s fragmentation raises prices for the poor. The National Treasury’s R420bn debt-servicing bill ties SA to IMF and World Bank loans with opaque conditions. This is why the EFF is drafting amendments to the Public Finance Management Act to ensure these loans face parliamentary scrutiny because we are committed to protecting our sovereignty.

Since its inception, the EFF has transformed opposition into resistance in parliament. We exposed the Phala Phala scandal, taking President Cyril Ramaphosa to the Constitutional Court when parliament shielded him. We challenged the R8bn National Lottery licence awarded to a politically connected consortium and demanded accountability for the stolen pensions of security workers.

Beyond parliament, we’ve led land occupations, supported communities against evictions and inspired a national conversation on land restitution. In Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, we delivered effective law enforcement, stable finances and water provision, showing what revolutionary governance looks like. Our Sizofunda Ngenkani campaign registered thousands of students for free and our insourcing efforts restored dignity to workers in multiple cities.

As we celebrate 12 years, we have affirmed that the EFF is not a passing movement but a generational mission. We will overturn the structures condemning black South Africans to poverty and build an economy that values people over profit.