Reeston - The EFF has taken its campaign for land expropriation to Buffalo City in the Eastern Cape, where the party is drumming up support for its upcoming 5th birthday celebrations on Saturday.
The party was formed on July 26, 2013 following the dismissal from the ANC of its leaders, Julius Malema, and Floyd Shivambu.
Addressing residents of an informal settlement in Reeston, outside East London, Malema accused the white community of keeping vast tracts of land while the black majority were crammed together in shacks. The party’s birthday celebrations will be held at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane.
Malema called on residents to forget about the ANC, saying it had abandoned them.
“Our people are still staying in the same houses that were given to them by apartheid. Our people still stay in the shacks. They came and abandoned you here. They have forgotten about you. They are going to come back next year during elections and say ‘no, you must remember Nelson Mandela, this is the party of Mandela, and we have come a long way with the ANC’. Mandela is no more. He is dead, with his party,” he said.
When this night is recorded, may it be that these are the faces of EFF ground forces who insisted on carrying a generational mission for economic freedom in our lifetime. In Buffalo City they worked hard to raise the flag through a successful #EFF5thAnnivessary Rally #EFFTurns5 pic.twitter.com/5lrOiphAP2
— #EFFTurns5 (@EFFSouthAfrica) July 25, 2018
“We chose Mdantsane because that is where our people are. We want to break bread with our people. We want to celebrate with our people. Saturday is the festival of the poor. If you are rich, stay at home,” Malema said.
All the party’s leaders had already made their way to the coastal province and were mobilising people for the event, at which the party said it would slaughter 10 cows.