Picture: EFF School Essay Competition/Google

By STAFF REPORTER

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is celebrating its 10th anniversary in style. The EFF deputy secretary in North West, Justice Dabampe said, the EFF as the third largest political party in South Africa, calls for submissions for entry into the National Secondary School Essay Competition.

Dabampe further said the competition is open for all secondary school-going learners of all walks of life and in all South African official languages. He added that the EFF seeks to inculcate a culture of writing among the youth through this competition.

“The ability to express oneself in a written form is central to modern life in all and every part of its aspects. With the advent of social media and short text messaging, the art of writing is daily undermined.

“The youth who spend so much time on social media and message platforms like WhatsApp and iMessage, turn to lose the general ability required for comprehensive long written works with complex and consistent arguments,” he said.

Dabampe said, above all, the EFF also wants to promote the diverse languages of South Africa. He said the essay competition will not privilege any language.

“All essays will be as per each official language. Meaning, there will be 11 winners, each standing for each official language. The competition opened on 10 March 2023 during Freedom Month and the announcement of the winners will be in June during Youth Month.

“Those who are eligible to enter are all South African-based active high school-going learners from both public and private education systems between Grades 10-12. Entrants will be required to provide evidence of their enrolment at their schools,” said Dabampe.

He said the topic will be: “A 10-year history of the EFF”.  According to Dabampe, the topic emanates from the occasion of the EFF’s 10 anniversary as all the winners will be published in a single booklet to mark this occasion.

“The topic covers sub-themes relate to what conditions led to the formation of the EFF. When and where was it formed, and what have been its major turning points over the past 10 years.

“Who are the key actors in the development of the EFF. What has been the key impact of the EFF in South African politics over 10 years? So, all entries should be typed and submitted in an electronic version in PDF format,” said Dabampe.

He said all essays entering the competition should be in one of the South African official languages. Dabampe said, all submissions must be accompanied by an EFF High School Essay Competition entry form, which should contain full contact details of the entrant, including an ID-sized photograph, physical address, telephone, fax number, and email address.

“This should also include contact details of the entrant’s parent or guardian. The essay should be 1200 and not shorter than 900 words. The essay must be unique in its style and original in its form such that it stands out from the pack.

“It should assess how well one has understood the question and how much they know and articulate the subject matter, and demonstrate the breadth and depth of knowledge,” he said.

He said the competition needs critical thinkers with proper analysis of facts, events, and evidence to form an argument. The deadline for submission of entries is 30 April 2023 to essays@effonline.org.

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Mahikeng- The Northwest Provincial Legislature having established facts pertaining to the conviction and sentencing of Papiki Babuile as reported in the media informed the leader of the official opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), that Papiki Babuile is no longer eligible to be a member of the legislature by virtue of the provisions of section 106(1)(e) of the Constitution.

Section 106 of the Constitution prescribes that a person automatically ceases to be a member of a provincial legislature if that person is convicted of an offense and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment.

In terms of the correspondence at our disposal, Babuile was indeed convicted for the murder of the former ANC Regional Secretary of Dr Kenneth Kaunda Region, David Chika, on 26 November 2014 and was sentenced for a period of 12 years plus a further sentence of 8 years imprisonment for conspiracy to commit murder. Both sentences run concurrently.

“According to the same correspondence Papiki Babuile attempted to make an application for leave to appeal but the court refused the application” Legislature spokesperson Teboho Chaane said.

No formal documentation were furnished by the EFF showing any further steps taken by Papiki Babuile on this matter safe for their submission that “his attorneys are busy with the appeal processes against the conviction and sentence”.

This was despite our numerous requests for them to do so.

“The Speaker of the Legislature, after careful consideration of all facts and pertinent legal matters surrounding this matter, has concluded, as advised, that automatic loss of membership of Mr Papiki Babuile has incurred” Chaane said.

He said it is on such basis as reflected above that the Speaker had to make a determination and communicated to the leader of Economic Freedom Fighters that Papiki Babuile has automatically ceased to be a member of the Northwest Provincial Legislature effective from the date of his appeal being refused by the court.

Papiki Babuile has immediately ceased to enjoy all benefits and entitlements including remuneration he enjoyed as the member of the Legislature.

According to Chaane, It goes without saying that the Northwest Provincial Legislature reserves all and or any of its rights to recoup all monies already paid to Papiki Babuile after automatic loss of membership incurred.
-TDN
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