LETTER: EFF will drive SA further down path to ruin

Julius Malema and the EFF’s plans for SA, as reported by Thando Maeko, will be absolutely disastrous for the country (“EFF aims to set up R100bn sovereign wealth fund”, February 11).

A sovereign wealth fund, if it can even be funded, would be looted in a matter of months by whoever is in charge. The EFF is just as corrupt, if not more so, than the ANC. And what foreign investor will want to touch a Stalinist party’s gravy train with a barge pole?

Nationalising and procuring wealth from petroleum and minerals will just continue to chase away what could be our most lucrative industry. Want to see our mining industry crumble? Then loot and restrict it further.

What’s even more terrifying is the EFF’s deluded views on Eskom. Every ounce of progress we’ve made in averting grid collapse and worse load-shedding has been because of private participation in the electricity industry — yet Malema wants to ban private partnerships with Eskom, centralise the parastatal more and continue to risk complete disaster.

It is clear that the EFF and Malema have absolutely no clue about what SA needs to flourish. If the EFF gets any sort of real power, it will just drive us further down the path to ruin. We can only hope their optimism about the 2024 elections is misplaced. I truly cannot see a future for this country with the EFF at the helm.

Nicholas Woode-Smith
Cape Town

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