SA COURT NODS SHUTDOWN
…DA’s urgent application to halt EFF shutdown dismissed, but court interdicts any violence
JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng High Court has dismissed the DA’s urgent court application to have the EFF’s national shutdown today declared unlawful.
The court did, however, prohibit the EFF, its members, employees and officials from shutting down schools, retail stores, businesses, trade and public roads.
The ruling also prohibits the EFF from promoting, instigating or organising the blocking of roads or railway lines and any unlawful conduct, as well as inciting violence.
The DA approached the Gauteng High Court on Friday, asking it to declare the shutdown itself unlawful in as far as it wasn’t protected under a notice granted in terms of the Gatherings Act.
Earlier, the Western Cape High Court granted an urgent interdict and ordered the EFF and its supporters not to harm or threaten people and businesses during their protests. Judge Mark Sher issued a list of conditions after the City of Cape Town and Western Cape Premier Alan Winde applied for the interdict.
The EFF has urged South Africans to take to the streets today over load shedding and have called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign.
The party also warned businesses to close on the day or risk being looted.
Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town’s law enforcement members this weekend removed more than 2, 000 tyres placed around Cape Town - allegedly ahead of the EFF’s planned countrywide shutdown.
South African police have said that the planned opposition protests are not a mere shutdown but an attempt to overthrow the government.
“This is an attempt to overthrow the government. This is not a shutdown, but it’s anarchy,” KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, said while briefing media on security plans to deal with threats posed by the protests.
President Ramaphosa on Thursday warned that anarchy will not be tolerated during the protests and called on security forces to “defend our people.”
Ramaphosa said the only way to get him out of office and power is through a vote. Julius Malema, the EFF leader, insists the protests are not illegal and has warned that anyone who attempts to stop them would “meet their maker.”