
The ELFSA has vowed to bring about radical yet constructive changes to the country should it be elected to government in the upcoming general elections on 29 May.
“The main enemy here is poverty and the only way we can defeat poverty is when we work together as a collective,” said ELFSA’s President Hulisani Mani.
Mani said this at a media conference on Monday at Hatfield in Tshwane.
“We must come together and call all professionals and even people who are unskilled to work together in transforming the South African economy,” he said.
Mani said once the ELFSA gets into government, one of the first things it will do is to conduct a skills audit to make sure that the right people are in the right positions.
He said this would be necessary as currently government departments and municipalities can’t meet the expectations of the public and deliver services due to lack of skills.
According to Mani, those who lack the required skills will be moved to positions that are suitable to them and this will open opportunities for skilled and experienced people to be employed in government.
“Currently the system denies those who have skills and experience an opportunity to be employed in government and most of them have already lost hope and have given up on applying for government jobs,” he enthused.
“We will urge the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to invest more money in building a black-owned economy which will also include Coloureds so that we can leverage whites and Indians,” said Mani.
“All illegal immigrants must go back to their countries and if they want to come back they must follow proper processes of immigration in terms of the laws of South Africa,” he said.
Mani lamented the fact that black South Africans have lost the spaza shop industry and also bemoaned the fact that cellphone providers at various malls countrywide are foreigners.
“This situation must be corrected as these malls are funded by the PIC,” he said.
On the plight of the mining communities, Mani pointed out that these communities needed to benefit from the profits arising from mining activities that are taking place in their areas because at the moment it is only a few cartels that control all the profits while these communities continue to suffer.
“We are going to transform the education system because it can’t be that a person studies up to Masters, degree level but ends up unemployed,” he fumed.
He said what is needed is an education system that will produce South Africans who are competitive under the current economic hardships.
“For the last 30 years we have been sleeping and we now need to build our own economy as a collective,” he said.
He said as the ELFSA, they advocate for an equitable economy where everyone who lives in South Africa will be able to participate.
Mani announced that ELFSA will be partnering with Party of Action (POA) in contesting the forthcoming general elections.
“One of the reasons South Africans must vote for us is that we are a youthful organisation, meaning whatever decisions or actions we embark upon the public will be able to hold us accountable for them because we will still be alive 20 years from now.
Rinae Sengani was introduced to the media as an NEC member of ELF-SA party.
She said she is a registered voter and has been voting in every election since she was 18 years old, yet she had decided not to vote in the 2024 elections as she was confused as there was no alternative party for her.
“When I discovered the existence of the ELF-SA I realised that this is exactly where I need to be,” she said.
Sengani revealed that she comes a long way with the president of ELF-SA Hulisani Mani as both of them were youth activists fighting against the infamous VBS corruption in Venda.
Sengani said she was a member of the ANC but has now left the party due to empty promises.