EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu has conceded the party is “still very far from being an ideal organisation” in the Eastern Cape
Shivambu gave a keynote address at the opening of the third provincial people’s assembly currently underway at the Absa Stadium in East London
“We have an obligation at all times as revolutionaries …to claim no easy victories and tell no lies. In as much as we may think that we are there as the EFF here in the Eastern Cape, we are still very far from being an ideal organisation which the organisational redesign document says must be an ideal EFF at the branch level, at the regional level and provincial level,” Shivambu said.
He said a simple demonstration of that is the election outcome that although the EFF in the Eastern Cape grew consistently, its growth has been around 2 to 3%.
“That is not satisfactory. The highest growth percentage vote we have ever received here in the Eastern Cape is still less than 8%. We still have regions where we get 2% or 1%. We still have subregions and municipalities where the EFF doesn’t have public representatives and that is what this PPA must pause to reflect on, of what do we do differently to grow the organisation here.
“Because we might think that we have six members of the provincial legislature and 123 councillors, we grew from 45 councillors between 2016 and 2021, but that is not an impact.
“The fact that we are still not even at 8% of the votes in the Eastern Cape means that 92% of adults who are registered to vote here have not yet been convinced by the EFF, by ourselves here. We have not yet reached out to all the 3.2million registered voters in the Eastern Cape. We have not yet reached out to 1.5million unregistered adults to persuade them…”
He said out of 39 municipalities in the province, the party had public representatives in 37 municipalities, adding that was a step in the right direction.
“We must continue to build the organisation and be felt in all the areas, in all the townships and the villages of the Eastern Cape.”
Shivambu commended the outgoing Eastern Cape command team for finishing their four-year term.
The previous two teams did not, and this is something Floyd Shivambu said was a problem of “staff riders and staff riding”.
“That there is a movement which is destined for a certain direction and there were people who just staff rode the organisation, and when the positions were taken from them, they abandoned the organisation,” Shivambu said.
He said such organisation members joined the party because they wanted to benefit individually and not the people.
“The other feature you want to know of staff riders is people who are lazy. People who when assigned responsibilities don’t fulfil them.
“We had that misfortune here in the Eastern Cape. So let us commend that the PCT that is going to give reports here have concluded their term in terms of the organisation.”
DispatchLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.