EFF induction: Five quotes from Floyd Shivambu

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu emphasised the importance of upholding the party's seven cardinal pillars, including land expropriation without compensation, at its induction session in Cape Town on Sunday. 

Shivambu was addressing the EFF's leadership at the event, where the contents of its manifesto were discussed in detail.

Here are five quotes from his address:

Economic emancipation

"In some instances we loosely use the term middleclass to refer to people who are in between, because they have salaries. But they are no different, as what distinguishes them from the levels of poverty that we see is that monthly income."

We are anti-capitalism

"As an organisation, we do not believe that the key means of production must be privately owned. They must be collectively owned, this is what the organisation is about. The EFF leadership must ask itself how it benefits the ordinary people, how does this benefit the working class?"

We are still not free

"When Ghana gained its independence, they wrote about neo-colonialism. Kwame Nkrumah (first prime minister and president of that country) used to say, 'Seek first political power and the rest shall follow'. And after careful analysis of what has been happening, they wrote about neo-colonialism, the fact that we have new forms of colonialism. We're just in control of political power, but not in control of the economy."

EFF pillars

"Expropriation of South Africa's land without compensation; nationalisation of mines and banks; building state and government capacity, which will lead to the abolishment of tenders; free quality education; healthcare and houses; the improvement of the industrial sector to close the wage gap; massive development of the economy; and open, accountable, corruption-free government." 

Health sector

"We need medication, but every time we need medication we must go to these multinational, mostly criminal pharmaceutical companies to buy medication from them. Cuba has, on many occasions, offered to help South Africa build its own pharmaceutical industry, but there is no one taking up that offer."