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Economic Freedom Fighters' Debut in the Municipal Elections Economic Freedom Fighters' Debut in the Municipal Elections Sithembile Mbete University of Pretoria Abstract Youth League president, Julius Malema. It won 6.3 percent of the popular vote in its The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has first election in 2014, allowing it to take up transformed the South African political twenty-five seats in the National Assembly landscape since it was established in 2013. and to become the official opposition in two In the 2016 municipal election, the EFF won provinces – Limpopo and North West (IEC, 8.2 percent of the national vote making it 2016a). This was a remarkable achievement the third biggest party after the ANC and for a party that had only existed for a few the Democratic Alliance (DA). It did not take months. In the 2016 municipal election, over any municipalities, but it performed the EFF won 8.2 percent of the national well enough to be the kingmaker in 13 vote, making it the third biggest party hung councils, including three metros. This after the ANC and the Democratic Alliance paper discusses the EFF's electoral campaign (DA), which won 53.9 percent and 26.9 and performance in the 2016 local general percent, respectively. The EFF did not win election (LGE). It asks whether the EFF has any council outright, but received 761 seats transcended the personality politics of its in councils nationwide (IEC, 2016b). This leader to attract its desired constituency on a was a satisfactory performance for a new broad scale. Has the party managed to move party, but fell short of expectations that it beyond a politics of spectacle to develop the would breach the 10 percent threshold or content of its political value proposition? take over governance of some municipalities Given the organisational challenges it faces, (Times Live, 4 August 2016). what are its prospects of being a serious contender for national government in 2019? Electoral success is the least of the EFF story, though. Through its disruptive political Introduction engagement in parliament and its clever use of the courts, the EFF has succeeded The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has in setting the national political agenda and transformed the South African political stimulating unprecedented public interest landscape since it was established, in 2013, in the country's political institutions. by expelled African National Congress (ANC) It was the party's activism that kept the Journal of Public Administration • Volume 51 • Number 3.1 • September 2016 596 Economic Freedom Fighters' Debut in the Municipal Elections Sithembile Mbete issue of security upgrades to President management require technical expertise Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead in the and do not easily lend themselves to the public consciousness, long after the ANC kind of political spectacle that has served had hoped to squash the issue. The EFF the EFF so well at national level. Slogans was the first party to highlight the role of such as "Zupta must fall" and "Pay back the Gupta family in government decisions, the money" are hard to translate to the making the term "state capture" a part of the more mundane administrative issues of public lexicon. Some of the tactics the party local government. Furthermore, the mixed used were disruption and non-cooperation ward and proportional representation (PR) in parliament, leading to frequent clashes electoral system at municipal level requires with the speaker of parliament, Baleka an extensive organisational machinery to be Mbete, and resulted in their being, forci- able to put up ward candidates in as many bly, removed from the National Assembly wards as possible across the country. Would chamber on several occasions. It was the the EFF be able to mobilise, at community EFF that approached the Constitutional level, to put up ward candidates? Would Court, directly, to institute legal action to the party prove itself to be more than a contest the ad hoc Nkandla committee that, one-man show? they argued, violated the Public Protector's constitutional powers. In April 2016, a full Populism is a useful lens through which to bench of the court confirmed the powers of assess the EFF. Many features of its politics the Public Protector and found that Zuma are consistent with the rise of populist "had failed to uphold, defend and respect the movements of "the people" against "the Constitution as the supreme law of the land". elite" in a range of contexts across the globe (Grootes, 2016). This finding is the most from the Brexit campaign, in Britain, to the significant indictment of Zuma's leadership, Red Shirts, in Thailand. Using a framework since he became president in 2009, and set developed by Moffitt and Tormey (2014) in a the tone for a bruising campaign for the previous article, I analysed the EFF's politics 2016 local government election. in terms of the constitutive relationship between political style and substance. This That the EFF has had such a major impact was significant, because the party's distinctive on South African politics indicates that the style has been criticised for masking a lack of party has proven itself to be more than political substance. In these highly mediated "a case of media hype over substance" times, when social media has made everyone (Friedman, 2014). In the run up to the 2016 with a smart phone a potential broadcaster, municipal election, observers were curious the optics and spectacle of politics matters to see whether the EFF would be able to more than ever before. While much of the repeat its 2014 success. Local government debate about the EFF has been about where is notoriously difficult to govern and has to place it on the ideological spectrum (right- been the site of widespread service delivery wing/fascist or left-wing/progressive), I have protests across the country. Municipal argued that this is a false dichotomy that does governance issues, such as water and not help us understand the EFF's politics, or sanitation, road maintenance and waste its appeal to voters. 597 Journal of Public Administration • Volume 51 • Number 3.1 • September 2016 Economic Freedom Fighters' Debut in the Municipal Elections Sithembile Mbete The Moffitt and Tormey (2014) model of its manifesto, campaign methods and im- political style has three main elements: portant events. Thirdly, it discusses the EFF's 1. Appeal to "the people", which the EFF did performance in the elections as well as its in its founding manifesto where it stated it role in the formation of governments in represents the poor, marginalised masses of several hung councils across the country. South Africa who continue to be exploited It closes with some thoughts on the EFF's by political and economic elites. 2. The use development as a party and its prospects of crisis, breakdown and threat to simplify for the 2019 elections. the terms of political debate and promote radical, decisive solutions to political prob- Election Campaign lems. This was seen in the EFF's use of the Marikana massacre, being expelled from The 2016 election campaign took place parliamentary debates and the Nkandla within a political context of vocal dis- controversy to advance its political agenda. satisfaction with President Jacob Zuma's 3. "Bad manners" or disregard for behaving political leadership and several scandals appropriately within the rules of formal about his stewardship of the country, in- political institutions. This was seen in the cluding the financing of security upgrades EFF's "revolutionary" dress code and refusal to his private residence and the influence of to abide by certain parliamentary rules. the Gupta family on cabinet appointments. This context was advantageous to the EFF, The main purpose of this article, therefore, as it has been at the forefront of the charge is to determine how the party has translated against Zuma's leadership, the climax of or harnessed its populism in this local which was the verdict of the Constitutional election. This is a critical point of enquiry, Court on 31 March 2016 that Zuma had for local elections are vastly different to violated his terms of office by failing to national elections. For a relatively new party, comply with the Public Protector's report contesting local elections is particularly on the Nkandla upgrades. As the party was hard, as it is still establishing local presence contesting its first local government election, in many parts of the country. This presents the attention and publicity it received from the challenge of establishing party structures its stance on national government issues while simultaneously, contesting local was an important entry point into its elections. How the party dealt with this 2016 campaign. challenge receives attention in this paper. Following an analysis of the party's per- However, the party faced significant chal- formance in this election, the paper examines lenges in mounting a successful election its prospects in the next national elections, campaign at local level, because of resource scheduled for 2019. constraints and the difficulty of contesting, nationwide, in effectively 258 separate The article begins with a brief conceptual elections at once (Fakir & Potgieter, 2016). discussion to set the terms of analysis. The mixed ward and PR electoral system Then it moves on to an examination of at local government benefits big parties, the EFF's 2016 LGE campaign, including because they can put up candidates in all Journal of Public Administration • Volume 51 • Number 3.1 • September 2016 598 Economic Freedom Fighters' Debut in the Municipal Elections Sithembile Mbete wards in the country and ward votes are rallies and a manifesto that was developed counted based on the overall proportion through a process of consultative meetings of votes that is used to allocate PR seats with constituents across the country.
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