LIVE | Malema arrives at EFF manifesto launch to loud applause at ...

ATM president Vuyolwethu Zungula is among the dignitaries. The PAC is also represented. Advocate Dali Mpofu, former party chair, is also here.

 - Soyiso Maliti 

EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo tells party supporters that Julius Malema is entering the stadium and supporters must stand up.

 - Bongekile Macupe 

EFF spokesperson Sinawo Tambo has just called journalists to brief them about a distance journalists will have to keep when the top six officials, including Malema, do a walkabout to greet the supporters. It means they're about to come out.

 - Soyiso Maliti

EFF SG Marshall Dlamini urges "maximum discipline" from EFF supporters as he requests those sitting near the main entrance – which is the fullest section – to move to the section behind the stage, which has a significant number of empty seats. He says those by the entrance are making it difficult for supporters to enter the stadium.

 - Soyiso Maliti 

WATCH: Ngizwe Mchunu is still at Gugu Dlamini Park in central Durban. He insists that his cultural carnival to rival the EFF's manifesto launch at Moses Mabhida stadium is still on, people must come through. pic.twitter.com/vWVmIm7lEe

COMMENT: What's interesting about the EFF manifesto launch is that it's mostly packed with young people. EFF leader Julius Malema, who has been stationed in Durban since last weekend, has mostly addressed students at universities as he crisscrossed the province this week ahead of the manifesto launch.

The EFF has also been putting in a lot of effort, especially in Gauteng, in mobilising young people to register to vote by organising music concerts headlining some SA artists.

It appears there is an intentional effort by the party to focus on young people ahead of one of the toughest elections in the country – especially because young people have shown a lack of appetite for voting.

 - Bongekile Macupe 

EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini has just told party supporters to take their seats as party leader Julius Malema is making his way to the stadium.

 - Soyiso Maliti 

Gospel artists Thina Zungu and Thobile are some of the artists that are here to perform at the EFF manifesto launch

 - Bongekile Macupe

Speaking to News24, EFF MP Ringo Madlingozi, who doubles as a multi-award-winning musician, urges South Africans to listen to what Malema has to say today. He reckons it will "change" your views on the EFF if you're not already sold on the party.

 - Soyiso Maliti 

A pitch invader has been quickly removed by EFF's "Defenders of the Revolution" (DOR) guards in military fatigue.

 - Soyiso Maliti

EFF's Carl Niehaus tells @news24 the EFF will, before a capacity crowd Moses Mabhida, declare SA "EFF territory". He said Malema's address will talk about "true liberation", and "not the nonsense Cyril Ramaphosa tried to pawn off to us" in his Sona this week. @teamnews24 pic.twitter.com/QV9IR7oBnN

EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini has just instructed supporters to sit orderly and make space for more supporters who want to come inside the stadium.

 - Bongekile Macupe 

Also in attendance is former ANCYL leader in KZN, Magasela Mzobe, who joined the EFF in October. He says what he has enjoyed about being a member of the EFF is that the party is youthful and is not opposed to new ideas.

 - Bongekile Macupe 

EFF national chairperson Ntombovuyo Mete tells News24 she is looking forward to a "massively packed" stadium.

 - Bongekile Macupe

COMMENT: The manifesto launch comes after the EFF boycotted SONA on Thursday. This is after the Western Cape High Court dismissed the case brought by six of its leaders, including Malema, that tried to challenge their one-month suspension from Parliament, which barred them from attending the SONA.

When Malema speaks later, he is likely going to criticise the courts, like he has done this week, as well as Parliament and President Cyril Ramaphosa.

This manifesto launch also happens days after the EFF approached the Constitutional Court to challenge the Phala Phala report, which it says is unconstitutional.

 - Bongekile Macupe

Some EFF supporters are already seated inside the Moses Mabhida Stadium where party leaders are going to deliver the manifesto at 12:00. Supporters have been provided with a bottle of water and a pack of sanitary pads for women in attendance.

 - Bongekile Macupe

Young EFF fighters are feeling the fervour, dancing to Amapiano music, while numbers are beginning to trickle in from the main, bigger entrance at Moses Mabhida Stadium.

 - Soyiso Maliti

Good morning from the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, where the EFF is holding its manifesto launch.

This week, party leader Julius Malema told EFF supporters in Inanda that this is going to be a "historical manifesto launch" for the party.

He said this was because everyone attending the launch comes from KwaZulu-Natal, and no party members will be bussed in from other provinces to signal that the EFF has a strong support base in the province.

Malema is expected to speak at 12:00, and party supporters have been trickling into the 56 000 seater stadium from around 08:00.

 - Bongekile Macupe 

Malema said Zondo Report was 'anti-black' - now he's using it to demand Ramaphosa impeachment

 - In June 2022, Arthur Fraser laid criminal charges against Cyril Ramaphosa related to a 2020 break-in at his Phala Phala farm.

 - An independent panel found there was sufficient prima facie evidence to justify an impeachment inquiry into the president. The ANC used its majority in Parliament to block it.

 - The EFF is challenging the rationality and legality of Parliament's decision in the Constitutional Court. 

'Like Zimbabwe': Malema rips into 'captured' judiciary after EFF suffers yet another legal blow

Just hours after the EFF was defeated in a court ruling that determined six party leaders couldn't attend the State of the Nation Address, leader Julius Malema ramped up attacks on the judiciary and likened courts to those in Zimbabwe.

While speaking to Durban University of Technology students at the Indumiso campus in Pietermaritzburg, Malema reacted to a Western Cape High Court decision that all but scotched the EFF's application to interdict his and five other party leaders' suspensions by Parliament.

Parliament suspended Malema, deputy president Floyd Shivambu, secretary-general Marshall Dlamini, MPs Vuyani Pambo, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and Sinawo Tambo for storming the stage before President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2023. 

Malema, MPs lose another court battle to get into SONA as court emphasises Parliament's independence

For the first time since their entry into Parliament, the EFF will not attend the State of the Nation Address (SONA) after a Western Cape High Court ruling effectively barred the party's top leadership. 

In a statement, the party said: "All EFF members of Parliament will not participate in the 2024 SONA activities and programmes, as these are undemocratic and unconstitutional and the so-called State of the Nation Address in 2024 is an extended caucus of the ANC." 

"Partial participation in the SONA activities and programme would imply that some of our members agree with the unlawful, undemocratic, and unconstitutional decisions of Parliament to forbid and banish elected members of Parliament. We will, therefore, not attend or participate in the ANC's extended parliamentary caucus." 

The EFF serves in eThekwini mayor's executive but they want him out

The EFF, an ANC coalition partner in eThekwini, wants ANC Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda out and even voted with the IFP and the DA on a motion to remove him - but the red berets have vowed to vote against the DA's planned motion to dissolve the troubled council. 

The red berets (EFF) also deny they're in a coalition agreement with the ANC in eThekwini, despite administering the biggest portfolio, that of the water and infrastructure department, which has a budget that is in excess of R4 billion. 

The EFF surprised many when it voted in support of a motion to unseat Kaunda.