The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said things are going to change completely after the elections when they become part of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality’s council.
The EFF’s national chairperson, Dali Mpofu, explained that being an EFF councillor shouldn’t be regarded as a job but as a service to the community. He was addressing close to a hundred Botshabelo residents in Section F, who were part of Mpofu’s door-to-door election campaign.
“Our people have been made jokes of for the last 22 years. We don’t have time to waste. As a councillor, everything that happens in the community should be your problem. We are not here to make empty promises. People have had enough of T-shirts and food parcels. What is the point of giving them out if the people are still struggling? You can trust the EFF. Give us five years and if we don’t deliver, you can then take us out,” he said.
He told residents that ANC members who have been killing each other across the country do so because they want to fill their own stomachs as councillors.
The headquarters of the EFF has received cases of intimidation that are taking place across the province. Mpofu said it’s one of the main reasons he visited Botshabelo and further added that their election campaign posters had been removed while some of the party’s candidates were being threatened as well. He alluded that the shenanigans were occurring because the ANC is scared of the EFF.
“We know that this is how a gangster-like Free State Premier, Ace Magashule, operates. Our people are not going to be intimated. They don’t call us fighters for nothing. We are going to fight for every space and chance. As we have said before, we know that they’re violent and we also know that they have killed people. They have killed some of our members already and they also kill each other. We are not going to fight them through those means. We will, however, fight them through voting. We appeal to all South Africans to endure the violence of the ANC. It is a sign that they are being politically threatened by us. That is why their election campaigning song is called ‘Asinavalo’, which means they are not scared. Who told them that they’re scared?”
According to Mpofu, the days of residents being bullied by the ANC are over and people are tired of empty promises from Magashule’s government. He further alleged that the community said the corruption around Botshabelo has reached an extraordinary level.
“One of the first things that people were talking about, was the issue of jobs, clinics and other services. We explained to them that the EFF policy of abolition of tenders meant exactly to make sure that money is not abused through corruption. That money usually goes to bribe officials to issue the tenders and also just to enrich a few people. Services such as a 24-hour clinic will not only provide the community with health care, but also provide jobs, therefore it will lessen the burden on municipalities,” he said.
Mpofu also discovered a crèche he had visited, accommodating close to 104 kids and housed in a small space, did not have a title deed. He said that reflected how government was ambivalent to such businesses. He criticised the provincial government service delivery programme, Operation Hlasela, calling it “nonsense”.
“Municipal land should be used for the benefit of our people. If a nationwide retail company built a mall here, 40% of that should be owned by the community. The money that is earned there on a daily basis will be circulated around the community, which will benefit them. These are some of the ideas that people are excited about and I have no doubt that we are going to take over this ward. We are going to ensure that neither the ANC’s corruption nor the DA wanting to bring us back to the dark days of apartheid, will succeed. People are tired of that and will be voting for the EFF.” – Refilwe Gaeswe 
refilwe@centralmediagroup.co.za