EFF paints Durban red

The red sea of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has descended upon the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban to witness the launch of the party’s much-anticipated election manifesto ahead of the elections.

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The party’s manifesto, delivered in front of a 65,000-capacity crowd on Saturday, is expected to promise relief from electricity shortages and youth unemployment.

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EFF WILL DELIVER MESSAGE OF HOPE, SAYS THAMBO

“Everything is on track the formal programme of today will begin at 12:00, and as things stand we are very confident that we are going to fill Moses Mabhida Stadium.”

“Most importantly, EFF will deliver a message of hope to the people of South Africa who are currently under stage 6 load shedding,” said Sinawo Thambo, the EFF spokesperson.

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EFF MAY BECOME THE OFFICIAL OPPOSITION: POLL

The launch comes a week after the latest Ipsos poll showed the EFF is on a growth trajectory and could dislodge the Democratic Alliance (DA) as the official opposition. The EFF is currently the third biggest party in South Africa.

The results for other parties are Democratic Alliance (17.3%), Inkatha Freedom Party (3.6%), ActionSA (3.4%), African Christian Democratic Party (0.9%), Freedom Front Plus (0.8%) and other parties 6.8%.  

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NATIONAL-LEVEL COALITION WITH ANC A POSSIBILITY SAYS POLL

According to the Ipsos survey: “This suggests that the possibility of a national-level coalition is conceivable, though not guaranteed. In the event of such an election outcome, the ANC would only require a party with about 4% to 6% national support as a coalition partner to establish a national government.  

During the 2014 national elections, the EFF got 6.35% of the vote. But this increased to 10.80% during the 2019 elections. In the 2021 local government elections, the party got 10.54% of the votes. This was an increase from 8.31% of the votes it received in the 2016 local government elections.

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FIGHTERS A

Social media users also joined in on the action, saying the day had finally arrived for the real State of the Nation Address.

Ingrid Mothiba posted on X: “AmaFighter Ajabulile (The fighters are happy)…The day we’ve been waiting for is finally here! We are a few hours away from listening to the actual State of Nation Address.”

Former ANC anti-apartheid activist and EFF member Carl Niehaus tweeted: “We have arrived! Today #MosesMabidhaStadium is our @EFFSouthAfrica home!.”