Steady gains for EFF in Limpopo and North West 'unsurprising'

04 August 2016 - 15:38 By Kingdom Mabuza

The Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF’s ) steady election gains in Limpopo and the North West were “unsurprising”‚ University of Pretoria a political analyst Professor Professor Tinyiko Maluleke said on Thursday. By 11.30 am‚ the ANC in Limpopo had secured 62.2% of the vote and the EFF 16.4%. In the North West‚ the ANC had 61% of the vote and the EFF 14.5%."The EFF invested a lot of time and energy in the North West‚ they never left that province‚ especially after the Marikana tragedy. They successfully exploited the situation and entrenched themselves‚" said Maluleke.How did your ward/city vote? Click here for the #ElectionResults:http://bit.ly/2apwZKUThat the EFF had also appointed members in the province to serve in Parliament had also worked in its favour‚ as had the fact that EFF leader Julius Malema was from Limpopo‚ he said."It was expected that there would be a lot of sympathy for Malema in Limpopo‚" said Maluleke.He said Limpopo had never been a particularly strong base for the Democractic Alliance (DA)‚ but had been a strong African National Congress (ANC) area and the EFF had probably gained some of its voters. It had also probably picked up Congress of the People (COPE) voters.While support for COPE appeared to be waning‚ spokesman Dennis Bloom was adamant the party would perform better in the Northern Cape‚ Free State and the Eastern Cape."We have focussed on these three provinces because we performed well (there) in the previous elections‚" he said‚ but admitted that internal strife had cost the party votes."We are not shy to say that previous internal battles have dealt us a serious blow. We spent a lot of resources in court‚ but we are in a building process now and we hope for the best‚" he said.Maluleke doubted COPE would ever recover from its internal battles."It will take a lot of hard work and time for COPE to reclaim its space which appears to have been taken by the EFF‚" he said...

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