If people are not at work on Monday ‘it’s not due to EFF’
The EFF should not claim an easy victory if there is a mass stayaway from work on Monday as many people will take the day off ahead of Tuesday’s public holiday to have a long weekend, minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Thursday.
Tuesday is Human Rights Day.
“People should not be fooled. If people are not at work [on Monday] it is not because of the shutdown or calls for protest for people not to go to work. If people are not at work its because people have long planned that they are going on holiday with their families,” Ntshavheni said at a post-cabinet media briefing.
The security cluster is preparing action plans to deal with the day of protests called by the EFF against load-shedding, unemployment and the high cost of living, and to call for the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
SA’s security services have been placed on high alert to prevent a repeat of the July 2021 riots, which devastated businesses in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Ntshavheni, along with ministers in the justice, crime prevention and security cluster — police minister Bheki Cele, defence minister Thandi Modise and justice minister Ronald Lamola as well as transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga — briefed the media on the government’s plans to deal with the protest.
“Attempts to cause disruption and disturbances in the country will be met with the full might of the law. We must also clarify that no amount of political adventurism should sway any South African,” Ntshavheni said.
Defence minister Thandi Modise noted that if there were a weakness in the security cluster it would be that people had been allowed to use social media to plan and to intimidate without this being followed up. “I want to assure you that this time we will not let it go,” she said.
The government was criticised that very little action was taken against those who incited violence and rioting on social media during the July 2021 riots.
Lamola noted that the Cyber Crimes Act made it a criminal offence to incite violence on social media.
Addressing the media, Cele gave the assurance that citizens and businesses would be protected against intimidation or bullying, saying the security cluster was fully prepared and would deal with any disruption caused by the protest.
“Measures have been put in place to ensure that everyone who wants to go to work, travel for leisure and conduct business on this day does so in a safe and secure environment. Law enforcement officers will be out in their numbers to protect them, while enforcing the law.
“Anyone who intimidates, stops anyone from going to work, barricades the roads and highways and uses any form of violence to try to stop our people from going on with their lives will face the full might of the law,” he said.
“We will be closely monitoring the situation throughout the country, and will act swiftly and decisively against any threats or disruptions. There will be high police visibility. Our law enforcement agencies through the NatJoints (national joint operational and intelligence structure) will ensure multidisciplinary deployments and the necessary contingency plans are already in place.”
Cele said protests must be peaceful and that no form of violence and criminality would be tolerated.