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THE EFF has elected its top five provincial leadership, which took place during the party's third People’s Assembly in the Northern Cape on the weekend.
Shadrack Tlhaole was elected provincial chairperson, while Kenneth Konote was elected provincial deputy chairperson and Kwinana Zet as provincial secretary. Willemse Mervin was elected provincial deputy secretary, with Botman Jacquiline emerging as the provincial treasurer.
During the closing address, EFF national deputy secretary general Poppy Mailola urged leaders of the Province to take the fight for economic freedom to the mines and banks as they form the party's strategic sectors for economic freedom.
"Your job is to fight for the cardinal pillars of the EFF, which is the nationalisation of the mines and banks and other strategic sectors of the economy. This entire province is a strategic sector of the economy of South Africa. Only the EFF government will make sure that our people benefit from the land and minerals of our ancestors," Mailola told delegates on Sunday.
“That is your first programme, comrades. We want to wake up in the morning and see you ... blocking all mining operations in the diamond mines, in the manganese mines, in the copper mines, and in the iron ore mines across this Province.”
She also called on the provincial leadership to build strong student structures across the Province's institutions of higher learning, saying students are the future of the party.
"We must call on all of you today to build a strong student command in the Northern Cape. The student command is important because it attracts the vibrant and intellectual youth, which is the future of this organisation and this country.
“One of the first tasks of the newly-elected leaders is to establish branches of the EFF student command and assist them in ensuring that they win their elections. As leadership, you must ensure that Sol Plaatje University has an engineering and mining faculty and that they have satellite campuses where the youth can go and learn how mining works, " she said.
Ahead of the 2024 general elections, Mailola said the leadership of the Province should refrain from fighting for positions and ensure that they eradicate societal issues such as gender-based violence and poverty.
"Your enemy is gender-based violence, and your enemy is poverty of our people. You must leave here energised to fight for our people and close this chapter of contestations.
“Comrades, the war towards 2024 has begun, and we need all of you to begin appreciating the fact that we are practically a year away from what will be the most decisive elections in SA since 1994. The Northern Cape must and will contribute meaningfully to the growth of the EFF.
“There is a potential to do that here. Our people are hungry for the EFF. It is now our responsibility to take the EFF to them and make sure that the EFF becomes the people's organisation," she said.
In his opening remarks on Friday, EFF leader Julius Malema said women are the vanguard of the party, adding that any structure that does not elect women to positions of power is doomed to fail.
Malema encouraged provincial leaders to fight for the rights of women both within the EFF and outside the party structures.
"If you are still intimidated by a voice of a woman when she speaks, if you still say I cannot be led by a woman, you must know that you do not belong to the EFF, " said Malema.
“If you still see a lesbian or a gay person and you want to classify them as undesirable people in our society, you are backward and therefore do not belong to our organisation.”