Rainbow nation out in full force
PROTESTERS in red‚ blue and yellow who massed outside parliament yesterday symbolised what is left of the “Rainbow Nation” in the post-Madiba era – a united force across race and party lines to remove President Jacob Zuma.
Even fiery EFF president Julius Malema called for tolerance and restraint‚ thanking people for “putting their political differences aside and coming in their numbers”.
As EFF supporters in red toyi-toyied down the street, thrusting forward a miniature coffin in ANC colours with flowers and a “Zuma RIP” placard‚ people made way to let them through.
Not to be outdone‚ a band of blue DA supporters followed in their wake with their own chanting.
Here and there, COPE and UDM members flashed yellow.
Braving the crowds in a wheelchair, Peter Sampson‚ a gold medal-winning athlete‚ said it was the biggest protest he had ever attended.
Vanessa Baadjies‚ 53‚ also came in a wheelchair to call for Zuma to go.
Mark Heywood‚ director of social justice organisation Section 27‚ said he had been offered a ticket to go inside parliament for the vote but he wanted to be outside with the protesters.
Mothers hoisted and rocked babies and one man had his dog on a leash.
On the other side of the railings‚ people who live on the streets slept curled up in their blankets.
Glossy posters shouted slogans like “Fire Zuma” or “Phansi Ngo Zuma! Umzansi Yizwe Lethu!” (Down with Zuma‚ SA is our country).
A drawing of South Africa locked inside a cage and the word Zupta on a key had the call “Country: before political party Kwanele (Enough)”.
“We must throw him in the bin‚” Nyanga Ward 37 DA chairwoman Ntombi Hlapezulu yelled‚ brandishing a poster of Zuma’s face with “Junked” stamped across it like a club.
But handwritten canvas sheets‚ waved aloft by community activists‚ showed that the groundswell of antiZuma emotion goes far beyond cities to the rural areas.
Kagiso Polori‚ 30‚ said: “We brought the ‘People’s Canvas’ down on a bus for people who couldn’t make it to the march.”
From early June they have collected thousands of signatures and messages for MPs on the 70m canvasses‚ many from faith-based organisations in the provinces of Limpopo‚ Mpumalanga and the Free State.
Among the appeals were: “You were elected by the people‚ so do things that benefit them‚ stop being selfish”; “Give us hope for the future”; “Vote no to state capture‚ vote yes to no confidence in Zuma”.
Wrapped in the banners‚ Jimmy Mokae and Sphelele Dlamini, from Randfontein in Gauteng‚ said it was an honour to bring them to the gates of parliament. As a bonus‚ they saw the sea for the first time.
While these twentysomethings celebrated their freedom of expression‚ a pensioner‚ Anthony Charles‚ lamented the lack of festivity at the march.
Charles said the SaveSA march in April this year had been more like a carnival‚ with energy and dancing.
“Today the SAPS have put us in a corner‚” he said‚ noting how the crowd was penned into St John’s Street early in the afternoon in an effort to keep them apart from the pro-Zuma marchers.