High alert for national shutdown
• No critical infrastructure is off limits, says Malema
The EFF’s planned national shutdown has been assigned a high-risk status, with SA’s security forces being put on alert to prevent a repeat of the July 2021 riots, which devastated businesses in parts of KwaZuluNatal and Gauteng.
The national joint operational and intelligence structure (Natjoints) met on Monday to put in place a response plan to the planned protest on March 20. Business Day has reliably learnt that the security chiefs have agreed to deploy a large contingent of police, while the military and the National Prosecuting Authority will be put on standby should the need arise.
“There will be massive deployment from the police, and the military will be somewhere close waiting to be given the green light,” a Natjoints source told Business Day.
Another source said: “We are ready, we will brief the media” on the security forces’ response to the protest.
The national shutdown is spearheaded by the EFF to protest against electricity cuts and unemployment. The party has called for the removal of President Cyril Ramaphosa for failing South Africans. The protest will be joined by the African Transformation Movement and the SA Federation of Trade Unions.
It comes a year before the general elections in which the ANC’s own polling of registered voters puts the party at 39% if South Africans voted today amid frustration over the most severe load-shedding since power cuts began in 2008.
Neither the EFF nor any of the parties joining the protest action have detailed any specific locations that will be targeted, with EFF leader Julius Malema calling on all South Africans to make their “voice heard by occupying the streets of SA wherever you are”.
But Malema said on Wednesday that none of SA’s critical infrastructure sites was off limits for the planned demonstration, with the intention of bringing economic activity to a halt. This included Eskom sites, the ports of Durban and Richards Bay, and state-owned airports operator Airports Company SA.
Logistics company Transnet, which transports critical minerals by rail to port, earlier in March issued a warning about the shutdown, urging its customers at the port of Richards Bay not to dispatch trucks containing goods three days before the start of the shutdown. The warning has, however, been retracted, Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said.
Only essential services such as healthcare workers and police would be exempt, Malema said. “We are not going to damage any property and we will not take any responsibility for any damaged property [during the protest] ... ours is a peaceful protest.”
Malema, however, warned that there could be a plausible risk that the shutdown could spill over to March 21, but added that should the protest continue beyond Monday then it would no longer be EFF-led and could spark the start of a “revolution”.
“If it goes beyond March 20 it will no longer be EFF-led, [because] now the society has taken over and it will be a confirmation of what we warned you about that there will be an unled revolution in SA,” he said during a press briefing.
“We want to hold the president accountable because he has violated his oath of office and therefore we cannot fold our arms when the country is on the brink of collapse. In particular on issues of unemployment, higher education, water and electricity in our communities, the potholes that exist everywhere in our communities, the high levels of crime, gender-based violence and the high level of corruption.”
The planned protest has drawn harsh criticism from other political parties and organised business, including the ANC
ONLY ESSENTIAL SERVICES SUCH AS HEALTHCARE WORKERS AND POLICE WOULD BE EXEMPT, MALEMA SAID
and ActionSA, with the DA on Tuesday filing a court application to interdict the protests, citing “intimidatory tactics [that are] being employed by members of the EFF, who are threatening ‘consequences’ for any business that dares to open and trade on the day”.
Business Unity SA CEO Cas Coovadia said the shutdown of economic activity was likely to aggravate the country’s dire economic prospects, which had been negatively affected by persistent power blackouts, the stagnant economy and unemployment.
SILENCE
“The disruption of the economy by a minority will further aggravate an already dire situation and threaten workplaces and household incomes, and increase hardship for all,” Coovadia said. “SA needs united action to overcome its economic and social challenges, not threats of violence and intimidation in support of narrow political gains,” he said.
Institute for Security Studies analyst Johan Burger said the government’s silence was causing panic.
“Government silence is very loud. You cannot allow people to distribute pamphlets calling on people to close their businesses, even the airport, and say nothing,” Burger said.
“That is an act of intimidation. It should have been investigated and acted upon by now.”