Africa-Press – South-Africa. The ANC has thanked South Africans for not joining the EFF’s national shutdown, while the red berets’ leader Julius Malema blamed a bus company cancelling its service for the poor turnout.
On Monday, the ANC, in a statement, expressed its gratitude towards all South Africans “who did not join the extremist and regressive so-called shutdown”.
“In South Africa there is no place or tolerance for vigilantism and forceful removal of an incumbent government. The ANC is fully committed to doing what the people of South Africa expect, demand, and deserve. The ANC acknowledges that everyone has the right to protest, and in line with the rule of law, all protest actions must be lawful.
“According to the Bill of Rights enshrined in our Constitution, no person or grouping may engage in an illegal protest action or impose their protest action on everyone who does not support it,” ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said.
The EFF’s shutdown had not developed into the mass action the party had promised, even though it pre-emptively described the shutdown as a success.
Malema hinted that the low turnout was because of a bus company cancelling its service with the EFF.
Addressing crowds at Church Square in Pretoria, Malema said the EFF had ordered 280 buses, for which it paid R1 million, to ferry its members.
Malema claimed the buses were cancelled on instruction from a minister.
The company involved is a public transport operator that is subsidised by the government.
Due to Monday being a business day, the operator was required to provide transport services.
“We have received the instruction from Minmec (national minister of transport) that as subsidised bus operators we are required to provide services [on] 20 March 2023 since it’s a normal working day in accordance with our contractual obligations and requirements,” a notice from the company, which the EFF shared on its Twitter page, read.
The protest action was characterised by small skirmishes, and in parts of the country, it was reported that demonstrators had used rocks and burning tyres to block roads.
Police, metro police officials and private security officials acted swiftly to clamp down on illegal action, stopping protesters dead in their tracks.
In several major cities across the country, some businesses continued to trade. Others closed their doors over safety concerns.
Public transport services were readily available, but buses and taxis were not filled.
Gauteng appeared to have the bulk of the protest action, with a few hundred protesters gathering at Church Square in Pretoria. A crowd of people in EFF T-shirts carried placards, sang struggle songs and gathered at Noord Taxi Rank in the Johannesburg CBD, where most shops were closed.
Putco temporarily suspended its services in the province after a bus was allegedly hijacked and other buses were stoned and damaged.
The EFF in the Western Cape said it was the police and security forces – and not them – that were shutting the province down.
By late afternoon, the red berets had not yet reached Parliament where they were meant to gather.
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