The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has vowed to score a major victory in the KwaZulu-Natal province during the upcoming general elections.
This was said by the EFF’s general secretary Marshall Dlamini during an interview with Sunday World following a press briefing on the party’s state of readiness relating to its manifesto launch. The launch is scheduled for Moses Mabhida stadium on Saturday.
No negotiations of coalitions
Dlamini on Wednesday said the party has not negotiated any possibility of coalitions ahead of the polls. He said their mission was to win an outright majority.
Dlamini said indications were that the 56,000-seat stadium would be filled to capacity.
“The stadium is too small for the EFF; we are a big organisation. It’s only fighters from KZN, but we will fill it up,” boasted Dlamini.
Besides the EFF, the ANC and the IFP are also set to launch their election campaigns at the same venue on March 24 and 10, respectively.
1 million new votes
The EFF explained that it needs at least 1 million new votes in KZN for the 2024 polls. Currently, the red berets are the fourth-largest party in the provincial legislature. It also emerged as a kingmaker in several hung councils in KZN after the 2021 municipal elections.
Sunday World asked for their take in the aftermath of the Political and Public Opinion Polling (Ipsos) survey. The survey showed that the EFF is likely to overtake the DA as the official opposition in the national assembly. Dlamini explained that the figures reflected that the EFF’s electoral support throughout the country had grown substantially. The polling results were published on Tuesday.
Only party showing growth
“The Ipsos polling shows that the EFF is the only organisation that is growing. We are in this province of KwaZulu-Natal to take over everything. The ANC will be defeated in all provinces. Even in the Eastern Cape, they will be shocked,” he explained.
According to the survey, the governing ANC will dip below 40% on the national ballot. It further polls the EFF at 18.6%, the DA at 17.3%, and the IFP at 3.6%, while the Herman Mashaba-led ActionSA is set to occupy the 5th spot with 3.4% of the national voter share.
New MK party not in survey
The survey also notes that the fieldwork was conducted between October and December 2023. This was before the formation of the the ANC splinter grouping uMkhonto weSizwe (MK). The splinter group’s face is former President Jacob Zuma.
The Electoral Commission said it had recorded 27.4 million registered voters, an additional 1 million new voters. This includes more than 80% of voters registered being under the age of 29. They were registered during the two-week registration phase
