She’s only 12, but she believes ‘Zuma must fall’
Young people there too as thousands turn out to protest against president
DROWNING in a sea of blue, 12-year-old Kiarah Olivier frantically waved her placard declaring that “Zuma must fall” and to “give SA back” to secure her future.
“I made it myself,” she said, proudly, pointing to the scrap of cardboard, standing in the middle of her protective older sisters, Gabby, 16, and Micaela, 21. Their faces were painted in blue with the words “Zuma must fall”.
“I wanted to come today because this is my future. (President Jacob) Zuma must fall ’cos he’s making our country corrupt,” she said.
Kiarah and her sisters had asked their mother, Naomi, if they could join yesterday’s antiZuma DA march in the Joburg city centre.
“They wanted to come because we have to make a plan; we can’t carry on like this,” said Olivier. “Our beautiful country is going down. He’s (Zuma) got all this money and the poor people on the ground don’t have anything.”
It was the first protest for the family, who live in the south of Joburg. “If it’s safe like this,” said Olivier, surveying the emptying crowd at Mary Fitzgerald Square, “we’ll do more.”
Like the Olivier family, the protest was a first for 61-yearold Norma Coetzee, who sat, exhausted, on a concrete bench in the square.
“It’s my first march because I’m a born DA. Why am I part of this march? I’m doing it for my nine grandchildren, so that they can’t say ‘my grandma never did something for this country.’
“Yes I fought on April 7, because my birthday is on April 2 and it’s not far back, so I won’t forget today,” she smiled, toothlessly.
Zuma was “taking advantage”, she said. “We want him out. How many wives does he have… he’s shuffling the cabinet all the time. Now he made us junk. He thinks he is untouchable, but he is not.”
Craighall Park resident Margie Wilson stood seemingly mesmerised as she listened to DA leader Mmusi Maimane address t he 10 000- strong crowd.”
“I’m here today because I think everyone has had enough – young, old, black and white,” said an “elated” Wilson, clutching her water bottle.
“And you know we’ve all got children and grandchildren. We want a future for them. We don’t want to go anywhere. Why must we? This is our country. We love it.
“Last time when I should have done something, I did nothing and this time I won’t.”
Wearing his distinctive EFF beret, a jovial Petrus Nkomo, told how he had joined the protest because he was “sick and tired of Zuma”.
“This is not about the DA, it’s about our country. Enough is enough. All of us, we’re one nation, we have to fight together today.”
Percy Gumbi, 30, a Boksburg driver, agreed. He was not a DA supporter, but the country needed change, he said.
“Zuma and the ANC have been chowing our money. The poor have become poorer, but they’re getting richer every minute. Black, white, Indian, red, blue, we’re gathered together for one cause: for Zuma to step down.”
Holding on to her friend, Mpumi Khubeka, Jessica Singh told how she “feels like we have a legacy to uphold. People gave their lives for this country and we can’t let this go to waste”.
“We want a moral leader, someone worth following.”
Rowlin Naiker, 38, said he joined the protest to “take a stand for the country and show we are united as a people. We can’t be armchair critics”.