Celebrating 12 years of radical transformation in SA

TWELVE years ago, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) burst onto South Africa’s political landscape with a promise to transform the country’s economic and social order.

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

Founded by Julius Malema and his comrades on July 26, 2013, the party emerged from a deep frustration with the slow pace of change since democracy and the persistence of poverty, inequality, and racial divisions.

Their rallying cry was clear: radical economic transformation, land expropriation without compensation, nationalisation of mines and banks, and the eradication of poverty.

Speaking at the EFF’s 12th anniversary celebrations, Malema painted a vivid picture of how those founding principles remain as urgent today as ever. He reminded the crowd of Khayelitsha’s history, founded in 1983 under apartheid as a relocation site for Black people forcibly removed from Cape Town.

Despite decades of democracy, Khayelitsha still bears the scars of spatial apartheid: poor infrastructure, inadequate housing, unreliable water, and limited public transport. For many residents, these conditions have become normalised.

Malema did not hold back in his criticism of the DA, the party governing the Western Cape. He accused the DA of being a party that protects white privilege and sustains inequality by neglecting townships like Khayelitsha.

While affluent suburbs such as Constantia and Clifton enjoy well-maintained roads and services, places like Gugulethu and Nyanga continue to suffer from neglect, overcrowded clinics, and dangerous streets plagued by gang violence.