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EFF leader Julius Malema knows how to create excitement: to keep the audience waiting, then tell them what they want to hear.
For two long hours, her supporters had been flogged with revolutionary slogans, catchy music and warm-up speeches in a crowded Alexandra Stadium in Johannesburg.
Finally, their leader appeared, coming out of a German limousine and taking a lap of honor around the venue of the event, intoning the roars of approvals flowing from the stands.
"En route to victory in 2019 – ahead," chanted the crowd.
Malema wore the party's red beret and was surrounded by a phalanx of bodyguards known as "defenders of the revolution".
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The radical left, the EFF, hopes to make significant gains in the elections if the ANC in power pays the price of deep public disenchantment brought on by the delays in eradicating poverty since the end of apartheid in 1994.
"He's the only one to feel our pain, he's the only one helping the people," said Steven Chauke, 58, a local man who has been unemployed for 16 years.
"In the past 25 years, the ANC has never worked for the people – only for itself – it's it that will free us."
A week before the elections, Malema chose to hold its May Day rally in friendly territory.
These problems allowed Malema, who was once a youth leader of the ANC, to form his own party in 2013 and integrate it in a few years to a growing force.
"Alex is the home of the EFF, the house of the poor," he told the crowd. "Do not go to decorated places … Alex is what South Africa looks like.
"Today, Alex says," Enough, it's too much "
In the stands, Kukie Ijeo, 47, of Hillbrow – another of Johannesburg's most difficult districts – interpreted Malema's speech.
Read also: "Why is Malema important? – Lekota compares the leader of the EFF to a "little fly" fallen into the milk
"We have nothing, we need jobs, we need houses, we need water, electricity, land, education," he said. she said.
"We only want everything that is promised in our constitution (post-apartheid) – but nothing has changed yet."
Malema tirelessly targets ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa for his economic tribulations, the numerous corruption scandals of the ruling party and his allegations of favoring the country's white minority.
The flagship policy of the EFF is to seize the largely white land of owners – individuals and businesses – to give them to poor blacks.
"We need to expropriate land without compensation and give it to the inhabitants of Alexandra so that they build their own homes.Share the wealth of South Africa," said Malema at the rally.
"Let's build a strong foundation for an African child to grow up without fear of a white counterpart," he said, addressing the inflammatory topic of race relations.
"I have no problem with whites, I have a problem with their special treatment," he told AFP during the campaign, dismissing charges of anti-white racism .
"No white man will be killed or beaten under a EFF government, it will never happen, but they will have to get off their big horse," he said.
Malema's approach seems to work because it creates support among the young and the poor.
The EFF won 8% of the votes in the 2016 municipal elections nationwide and polls suggest that it could win between 10% and 15% of the vote in the general vote. May 8th.
Read more: Why more people than before will vote EFF on May 8th
Malema, barely 38, sees himself as the next president of South Africa, though badysts doubt it.
"The EFF will do well, about 10%, maybe above," said Frans Cronje, director of the Institute of Race Relations.
"But they can not get much more than that because the majority of this country is conservative moderate."
All black South Africans are not sold on the fiery rhetoric and extravagant promises of Malema.
"He's like all politicians," Respect Nethananai, a 34-year-old resident of Alexandra, grumbled. "He just wants power."
Malema does not seem to want to temper his speech, even though he has been brought to court for hate speech – claiming that his party would not demand the killing of whites "at least for the moment".
In a typical provocative manner, he ended his May 1 speech by singing the "Kiss the Boer", altering the lyrics of the song "Kill the Boer" who had previously drawn him into a hot water.
Find out everything you need to know about the 2019 national and provincial elections in our Website News24 Elections, including the latest news and detailed interactive maps of how South Africa has voted in the last 3 elections. Make sure your The News24 application is updated to access all our electoral coverage in one place.
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