Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema. Picture: SOWETAN
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema. Picture: SOWETAN

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THE Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) may emerge as the official opposition in three provinces in the general election on May 7 — the Free State, Limpopo and North West — as it is managing to woo disillusioned voters.

According to research by two political parties with established polling capacity, there were strong indications that the EFF was set to take most of the Congress of the People (COPE) vote in these provinces, after COPE all but unravelled because of continued leadership squabbles since shortly after the 2009 polls.

Becoming an opposition party in provincial legislatures will test the EFF’s administrative ability, and its capacity to govern will come under scrutiny.

Critics of the EFF have likened it to COPE, which also comprised of disgruntled and marginalised leaders in the African National Congress (ANC) under President Jacob Zuma.

COPE was the official opposition in all three provinces in the 2009 polls. In Limpopo, it won 7.5% of the vote while the official opposition at national level, the Democratic Alliance (DA), got 3.5% of the vote. In North West, COPE won 8.33%, while the DA got 8.25%. There was also a close-run race between the two parties in the Free State, where COPE won 11.61% of the vote and the DA won 11.60%.

COPE president Mosiuoa Lekota said on Wednesday the EFF lacked the structures and organisational capacity to perform better than his party.

COPE was launched shortly before the 2009 election and got 1.3-million votes and 30 seats in Parliament.

"To build a strong and consistent support you need time and actual structures," Mr Lekota said. "The arrival of the EFF, which was very late in coming, will account for a considerable number of potential voters who will not be able to vote because they are not registered."

EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said on Wednesday the party was preparing to govern, not sit in the opposition benches.

Insiders in the party, however, said it expected to become the official opposition in four or five provinces. The EFF believes it will eat into the ANC’s share of the vote in the provinces as well as COPE’s.

The EFF was launched in Marikana and its main base in the North West province was along the platinum belt, among communities and workers disenchanted with ANC rule.

EFF second-in-command and national co-ordinator Mpho Ramakatsa is a former Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association member who lodged a successful court challenge against the ANC in the Free State’s provincial elective conference in 2012.

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Mr Ramakatsa was part of a group called "regime change" in the province and had accused the ANC of vote-rigging in securing a victory for party chairman Ace Magashule in an internal provincial elective conference in 2011. The Constitutional Court declared the conference null and void following factional fights in the run-up to the gathering. The EFF is said to be making inroads among ANC voters who did not support Mr Magashule.

Limpopo is Mr Malema’s home province. But the ANC in the province said his support was mostly among "people under age", and those who were not registered to vote.

The EFF dismissed this.

ANC ally the Congress of South African Trade Unions is set to hold its main Workers’ Day event in Polokwane on May 1, after Mr Zuma was reportedly booed by a community in the province last week.

DA North West premier candidate Chris Hattingh said on Wednesday that he believed a few weeks ago that the EFF could have become the official opposition in the province, but his opinion had changed. "They peaked too early; people are disillusioned with them already and are seeing that their promises cannot be fulfilled," he said.

He was upbeat about the DA’s prospects, saying it hoped to get between 15% and 17% of the vote.

DA Limpopo premier candidate Langa Bodlani said on Wednesday that the EFF’s support at the polls was untested, despite the hype around the party.

While COPE was the "official" opposition in the province, the DA had performed the role "more effectively" due to infighting in COPE, he said.