Economic Freedom Fighters

• WaterFix water leaks within a day of being reported.
• Electricity and power cutsStop extra charges on prepaid meters and install them for free.
• RubbishCollect waste reliably in all communities.
• Toilets and sewageGet rid of all bucket toilets and unsafe pit toilets.
• RoadsKeep all council (Council The group of elected people who make decisions for a municipality. They pass its budget and choose the mayor.) roads safe and usable.

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• Building housesUse plans with set deadlines that aim to clear housing backlogs.
• Informal settlementsChange land rules so informal settlements become formal areas, then upgrade them.
• Title deedsSpeed up the issuing of title deeds.

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• CrimeAim crime prevention plans at known crime hotspots.
• Metro policeGive council law enforcement more staff, training and resources.
• Local jobsEmploy council workers directly, without contractors, within 24 months.
• Business and growthGive local small firms and co-operatives at least 80% of council buying.

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• CorruptionPublish all tenders, awards and contracts, and punish corruption.
• Audit resultsNo 2026 promise found.
• Wasteful spendingHire qualified professionals instead of relying on consultants.
• CoalitionsNo 2026 promise found.
• BudgetsSet up People's Budget Assemblies in wards (Ward A small area inside a municipality. Each one elects one councillor.) so residents have a say.

Compare every party on governance and money →

• EWN reported in February 2026 that the EFF and ANC were coalition (Coalition Parties that agree to run a council together, usually because none has more than half the seats alone. Together they choose the mayor.) partners in Mogale City. EWN said they were also partners in Johannesburg and Tshwane. This was after the EFF left Ekurhuleni's coalition. We found no later report of a change.
• The EFF is part of the coalition that runs Knysna, with the ANC and the PBI. Daily Maverick reported this in October 2026. The EFF won 1 of 21 seats in 2021, according to the IEC (IEC The Electoral Commission of South Africa. It runs elections. It is independent, so it does not take orders from the government or any party.). The council (Council The group of elected people who make decisions for a municipality. They pass its budget and choose the mayor.) has had no elected mayor (Mayor The leader of the municipality. Councillors choose this person, not voters. So the seats each party wins decide who can lead.) since 18 September 2026. Police arrested Thando Matika, whom the ANC removed as mayor on that day, on 1 October 2026 on corruption charges. He has not been found guilty.
• The EFF is part of the ANC, EFF and NFP coalition that has run Nongoma since 2023. IOL reported this in April 2025. The EFF held the deputy mayor post until March 2025. Then it removed its deputy mayor after he was arrested on corruption charges. The Sunday World reported that in June 2025 the ANC proposed giving an EFF councillor (Councillor A person elected to make decisions for a municipality, such as the budget and who the mayor is. Each one holds one seat.) an executive committee seat. The executive committee is the group of councillors who help run the council. This would let the EFF fill the post again. We have not confirmed whether that happened. The Auditor-General's 2024-25 report lists Nongoma among KwaZulu-Natal councils whose audit outcome got worse over the council term.

Parties (Party A group of people who stand for election together, with shared plans.) must declare some donations. This applies when one donor gives them more than R200 000 in total in a financial year. A financial year runs from April to March. The limit used to be R100 000. The President raised it in Proclamation Notice R. 275 of 2025. This was published in the Government Gazette on 18 August 2025. So the July to September 2025 report uses R100 000 for donations before that date. A smaller donation is declared once the donor's total for the year passes the limit. The IEC says the Political Funding Act covers each registered (Registered Your name is on the voters' roll. Registration for this election closed on 7 August 2026.) party, even one with no seats (Seat A place on the council, held by one councillor. A party with more votes gets more of these places.) in Parliament (Parliament South Africa's national law-makers, in Cape Town. It has two parts, the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.) or a provincial legislature. So the IEC's reports cover each party listed here. Smaller gifts, membership fees and public money are not in these reports. So no rows means no donor passed the limit in these reports. It does not mean the party got no money. The IEC's yearly report shows each party's total of smaller gifts, without names. These are the donations the party told the IEC about, as the IEC published them. We do not compare parties. Checked 20 October 2026.

• “for South Africa to continue the fight at the International Court of Justice on the case against the state of Israel for the genocide they continue to perpetuate in Palestine”

  In Parliament, 26 May 2026

  N M Mhlongo, an EFF MP (MP (Member of Parliament) A person who sits in Parliament, which makes South Africa's laws. They are not chosen in this local election.), said this in a budget debate, where MPs discuss money for the department that deals with other countries. She wants South Africa to keep its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, the United Nations' top court. The EFF says Israel is trying to destroy the people of Palestine, which is what genocide means. The EFF rejects that budget, and she also praised Iran's Revolutionary Guard, part of Iran's armed forces.

• “the EFF unequivocally condemns the Israel-US attack on Iran.”

  In Parliament, 3 March 2026

  Carl Niehaus, an EFF MP, said this in a member's statement, a short speech any MP can make at the start of a sitting. He means the EFF is against the military strikes on Iran by Israel and the US. He says they broke the UN Charter, the United Nations' rule book, because Iran had not attacked first. He wants those who did it held to account. He does not say what South Africa should do.

• “We must unashamedly continue to stand with Palestine and Russia.”

  In Parliament, 6 March 2025

  Julius Malema spoke in Parliament's (Parliament South Africa's national law-makers, in Cape Town. It has two parts, the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.) debate after the US cut its aid to South Africa. He said South Africa must keep standing with Palestine and Russia. He also said "The world must move forward without the USA".

• “This Special Appropriation Bill seeks to allocate additional funds to the President, the Department of International Relations and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to continue the fight at the International Court of Justice.”

  In Parliament, 5 December 2024

  An EFF MP backed a bill giving more state money to continue South Africa's ICJ case against Israel. The bill also held about R5 billion for SANRAL, the national roads agency.

• Vote in Parliament, 21 November 2023

  All 43 EFF MPs present voted to ask the government to close Israel's embassy (Embassy A country's main office in another country. It speaks for its own government there.) and cut ties. The ANC had changed the EFF's motion so ties stay cut until a ceasefire and UN-led talks. The motion passed, 248 votes to 91.

• “we are here to introduce the EFF motion on the termination of all diplomatic relationship with the apartheid State of Israel, in particular, the removal of its embassy from our land”

  In Parliament, 16 November 2023

  The EFF brought a motion to Parliament asking the government to cut all ties with Israel and close its embassy.

• “He did exactly what Hamas is doing. O.R. Tambo did the same thing. Chris Hani did the same thing. Winnie Mandela did the same thing. Steve Biko did the same thing. There is nothing wrong with what Hamas is doing,”

  News report, 23 October 2023

  At an EFF march to Israel's embassy, Julius Malema compared Hamas to South African freedom fighters such as O.R. Tambo and Chris Hani, The Citizen reported. Hamas then ran Gaza.

• “Partner with strategic allies such as the Russian Federation or the People's Republic of China to build nuclear power plants”

  In Parliament, 24 March 2026

  M N Paulsen, an EFF MP, said this in a debate in Parliament about electricity. He wants South Africa to get new nuclear power stations to make more electricity. He wants Russia or China to build them with South Africa. The partner would build and run them for 20 years, then hand them over. This would make Russia or China a partner in South Africa's electricity.

• “We must unashamedly continue to stand with Palestine and Russia.”

  In Parliament, 6 March 2025

  Julius Malema spoke in Parliament's debate after the US cut its aid to South Africa. He said South Africa must keep standing with Palestine and Russia. He also said "The world must move forward without the USA".

• “granting visa free access of Ukrainian holders of diplomatic and official service passports without the approval of the Parliament”

  In Parliament, 28 November 2024

  M S Letlape, an EFF MP, said this in a Parliament debate on a report about the Home Affairs budget. She says the DA Minister of Home Affairs signed a deal with Ukraine. It lets Ukrainian officials with government passports visit without a visa, which is a permit to enter. She says Parliament should have approved it first, as the Constitution requires for deals with other countries.

• “We are with President Putin and we want to say to President Putin, it is not us South Africans who have refused you from coming into the country, it is Ramaphosa. The coward Ramaphosa who could not guarantee we will not arrest Putin. We are Putin, and Putin is us”

  News report, 31 July 2023

  Julius Malema said "We are Putin, and Putin is us", IOL reported. He blamed Ramaphosa for Putin not coming to the BRICS summit in South Africa. On AGOA, a US trade deal, he said the US "can take away Agoa and leave us with our sovereignty".

• “I will go beyond the friendship with Russia. In the war, I would align with Russia and even supply weapons to Russia. Russia is in a war with imperialism.”

  News report, 25 May 2023

  Julius Malema told the BBC that, as president, he would side with Russia in the war and even supply it with weapons, TimesLIVE reported.

• “Putin is welcome here, and no one is going to arrest Putin. If need be, we are going to fetch Putin from the airport, take him to his meeting where he will address and finish his meetings, and we will take him back to the airport,”

  News report, 23 March 2023

  The International Criminal Court had asked for Putin's arrest. Julius Malema then said no one would arrest Putin in South Africa, IOL reported. He said the EFF would fetch him from the airport.

• “saying certain clauses of the resolution would jeopardise the IPU's role and obligation as an impartial mediator”

  News report, 24 March 2022

  EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu objected, for South Africa, to a resolution of the Inter-Parliamentary Union condemning Russia's invasion, News24 reported. He said parts of it would harm the union's role as a fair go-between.

• “Russia never isolated us. Today we are here say to Nato and to America — we are not with you, we are with Russia.”

  News report, 21 March 2022

  On Human Rights Day 2022, Julius Malema spoke to NATO and America, TimesLIVE reported. NATO is a military alliance of the US, Canada and European countries.

• ““There is nothing wrong with Russia protecting its territory.” So says the EFF after meeting the Russian ambassador to SA Ilya Rogachev in Tshwane, on Wednesday.”

  News report, 17 March 2022

  The EFF met Russia's ambassador (Ambassador The top person a country sends to speak for it in another country.), Ilya Rogachev, in Tshwane, TimesLIVE reported. Afterwards it said there is nothing wrong with Russia protecting its land. This was weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine.

• “The visit underscores the importance of South Africa fully recognising the One China policy.”

  In Parliament, 12 September 2025

  N M Mhlongo, an EFF MP, said this in a debate in Parliament on a report about MPs' trip to China. The One China policy is the view that Taiwan is part of China. She wants South Africa to put it fully into practice. She means Taiwan's office in Tshwane should move out, which she says has still not happened. She says China helped South Africans in their struggle for freedom, and the EFF backed the report.

• “We as South Africa have long supported the One China policy and Taiwan, in terms of the Vienna Convention, must leave Pretoria as Pretoria is designated for diplomatic missions only.”

  In Parliament, 15 November 2024

  M K Montwedi, an EFF MP, said this in a debate in Parliament about abuses against minority groups around the world. He means South Africa should treat Taiwan as part of China, not as its own country. So he says Taiwan's office cannot stay in the city where foreign embassies are. He says the Vienna Convention, a world agreement on how embassies work, backs this. The EFF does not want South Africa to change how it deals with other countries.

• “the EFF calls for a boycott of the G20 in Miami, Florida, if South Africa is not allowed as a founding member as a result of a declaration by Donald Trump.”

  Party statement, 12 December 2025

  Julius Malema, the EFF leader, said this, EWN reported. US President Donald Trump had said South Africa may not attend the 2026 G20 meeting in Miami. The G20 is a group of big economies that meet each year, and South Africa helped start it. Malema wants the other G20 countries to stay away if Trump bars South Africa. He says the South African government has been too careful in how it answered Trump.

• “The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said President Cyril Ramaphosa must block the ambassadorship of the “divisive” Joel Pollak if he is picked to represent the United States (US) in South Africa.”

  News report, 17 March 2025

  The US had expelled Ebrahim Rasool, South Africa's ambassador there. The EFF then said Ramaphosa should refuse Joel Pollak if the US picks him as its ambassador here, EWN reported.

• “We must unashamedly continue to stand with Palestine and Russia.”

  In Parliament, 6 March 2025

  Julius Malema spoke in Parliament's debate after the US cut its aid to South Africa. He said South Africa must keep standing with Palestine and Russia. He also said "The world must move forward without the USA".

• “This is a testament to the erratic nature of policy-making that has overtaken US foreign policy, which is controlled by emotions and misinformation”

  Party statement, 8 February 2025

  The EFF said this in a statement, IOL reported. It was answering US President Donald Trump's order to punish South Africa and cut US aid. The EFF says the US did this because South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice, the United Nations' top court. It says the claims about land were not the real reason. It wants South Africa to grow closer to Russia, China and the other BRICS countries.

• “We are with President Putin and we want to say to President Putin, it is not us South Africans who have refused you from coming into the country, it is Ramaphosa. The coward Ramaphosa who could not guarantee we will not arrest Putin. We are Putin, and Putin is us”

  News report, 31 July 2023

  Julius Malema said "We are Putin, and Putin is us", IOL reported. He blamed Ramaphosa for Putin not coming to the BRICS summit in South Africa. On AGOA, a US trade deal, he said the US "can take away Agoa and leave us with our sovereignty".

• Party statement, 8 January 2026

  Nqobile Mhlongo, who leads the EFF's work on other countries, spoke about Venezuela, EWN reported. The US had captured Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. She says this military action broke the law. The EFF wants countries around the world to cut off the US government. It warns that other countries, South Africa among them, could be next, and plans protests to support the people of Venezuela.