The Economic Freedom Fighters have dispatched a six-member intervention team to the Eastern Cape to convene regional conferences.
The team, headed by EFF national political education portfolio head Mlungisi Rapolile, was told to make sure the province held its first elective Provincial People’s Assembly before the end of March.
The team arrives after a brawl broke out at the weekend when members of the Chris Hani region resisted an apparent attempt by EFF Eastern Cape leader Vuyisile Schoemann to impose lawyer Monwabisi Tutu as regional convener. Tutu allegedly ran to his car and drew a gun. Police said they were investigating.
The decision to dispatch the “Central Command Team” (CCT) members to the Eastern Cape regions was taken at a provincial command team meeting at the party’s King William’s Town headquarters last week.
The EFF’s Eastern Cape coordinator, Simcelile Rubela, said yesterday the party was following a resolution of their national conference to launch all branches and regions before convening a provincial conference. “The meeting deliberated on the status of the province and all regions and resolved on a programme of action which will improve the performance of all regions and the province…
“All CCT deployees and the PCT members are deployed to all regions of this province to make sure this programme of action is implemented with urgency,” Rubela said.
Rubela said regional general assemblies would be convened this weekend, when all branches would gather. “During these , we will deliberate to our members all the outcomes of the PCT meetings and the programme of action that were adopted,” he said.
“All the regions have been instructed to convene all their branches and ward command teams and report back on the outcomes of the National People’s Assembly,” he said.
On Tuesday last week, the party’s national structure held its first CCT meeting after its national conference in December, and resolved to establish a student command to contest student representative council elections in all institutions of higher learning.
EFF acting national spokesman Fana Mokoena said the CCT would monitor progress in the Eastern Cape. “The CCT will over the next few weeks visit provinces of the EFF to consolidate our programme of action towards economic freedom in our lifetime.” — siphem@dispatch.co.za