Your voters are running away, Mpofu tells Mboweni

When Finance Minister Tito Mboweni posted a picture of himself with his chickens on Twitter, with the caption “My chickens are not running away”, he probably didn’t expect shade.

However, that’s exactly what he got from his rival, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) national chairperson Dali Mpofu, who responded “Only your voters … Kumkani (king)”.

Mpofu’s joke got a mixed response, with EFF supporters generally responding with laughter, while a couple of their detractors were less impressed.

“Hey Mr 10%, I wouldn’t be so smug. Maybe concentrate on trying to work out why 90% of the electorate rejected the EFF,” one Twitter user responded.

“I know you feel super powerful but the majority still hate the EFF and their stupid failed everywhere else policies,” said another.

READ MORE: The EFF are ‘suffering from arrogance’, say analysts

Mboweni’s party, the African National Congress (ANC), achieved a comfortable victory at the 2019 polls, with 57.51% nationally, an improvement from the 53.91% they received in 2016’s municipal elections.

However, their support is down since the last national elections, which saw the party achieve 62.15%. This is probably what Mpofu was seizing on in his tweet.

The EFF, meanwhile, was the only one of SA’s big three parties to have grown in 2019, from 6.35% in 2014 to 8.19% in 2016 and now 10.79% following the May 8 elections.

Some, however, have noted that the EFF themselves predicted much higher growth, with party leader Julius Malema saying before elections that they would be going for a “decisive” victory and would not form coalitions.

The Citizen reported on Monday morning that the EFF’s announcement while campaigning of predictions exceeding the projected 4% growth in this election have led to some critics suggesting that while the party may not be doing terribly, its leaders and members could be suffering from their own arrogance.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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