EFF’s ‘ridiculous’ manifesto would lead to ‘riots in the street’, says academic

The EFF refers to itself as a 'government in waiting', but this would be disastrous if it came true, argues a senior researcher and academic.

The EFF’s leadership at the launch of the party’s new manifesto at Giant Stadium in Soshanguve, Gauteng, February 2, 2019. Picture: Nigel Sibanda.

Senior research associate at the Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute and research fellow at the University of KwaZulu Natal’s social sciences department, Imraan Buccus, has written a scathing opinion piece in The Sunday Times, saying the EFF manifesto is the work of “crude opportunists”.

According to the academic, the manifesto “veers incoherently from far-right neo-liberal economics, like export processing zones, to classic far-left policies, like radical land reform”.

Buccus says the manifesto makes “wildly outlandish promises” which would “bankrupt SA in a month”, which in turn would lead to the printing of more money, which would result in “an economic and social catastrophe of Zimbabwean and Venezuelan proportions”.

This, Buccus concludes, would lead to riots in the streets.

Among the EFF’s unrealistic promises, Buccus mentions the R1 million payments the party wants granted to successful PHD students and to “orthodontists at every school”.

Buccus is not alone in dismissing the new manifesto as unrealistic.

Eusebius McKaiser dismissed it as “bullsh*t on talk radio 702 last week”, and added that it is “filled with promised that are not feasible” on Twitter.

The Citizen’s own Eric Naki, meanwhile wrote a column titled “Julius Malema’s imaginary land far, far away“, which argues that the manifesto is the kind of thing a party that knows it will not win, and therefore will never be made to implement any of its policies, would issue.

“A losing boxer celebrates at the end of the last round even when he knows he is out. Similarly, the EFF is going into the May election with the attitude of a losing boxer telling everybody ‘I’m winning'”, Naki wrote.

“Official survey figures by both Ipsos Markinor and Institute of Race Relations put the EFF nowhere near winning. So, there will be no EFF government, no EFF president and no EFF victory speeches in May.”

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