‘•–•—……‡••ˆ—Ž•Š—–†‘™‹Š‹•–‘”›‘ˆ•–”—‰‰Ž‡Ǧ

Some of the trucks that were parked by the Ngwenya Border on the Eswatini side, following that the Eswatini Road Freight Association suspended its operations yesterday amid the shutdown in South Africa. (R) The Ngwenya/Oshoek border was quiet due the shutdown.

JOHANNESBURG - EFF leader Julius Malema has claimed success in his party’s bid to shutdown the country to protest against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s incumbency and the energy crises in the country.

Speaking to party die-hards in Pretoria yesterday afternoon, Malema described his party’s shutdown as ‘the most successful shutdown ever in the history of struggle in South Africa’, despite ‘intimidation’ by law enforcement.

“We have been subjected to apartheid tactics for the last three days because of Bheki Cele, so he must know that all of those tactics have not worked,” Malema told a crowd gathered at Church Square in Pretoria.

Protests

For most of yesterday, the shutdown was characterised by sporadic protests in city centres as police and private security worked to control the protests.

“Today, on my way here, they (Eskom) said they are cancelling load-shedding for today because there is no demand for electricity, because the factories are closed,” Malema told the crowd.

Yesterday morning, Eskom announced that load-shedding would be suspended ‘due to the significantly lower than anticipated demand for electricity today’.

While Eskom noted that the suspension of load-shedding was due to a decrease in demand, the EFF leader claimed it has his party’s success.

“The consumers of electricity, which is big business, are closed, and that is how you should measure the success of this shutdown,” Malema said.

“Today, there is no big mall or small mall, no factory, no school that is open today. All of them are closed. What makes matters worse, in Richards Bay, there is no single train that was seen. Today South Africa is shut down.”

Most malls in the country remained open with some stores closing when EFF protestors gathered in their vicinity.

Most schools were closed due to today being a public holiday.

While the numbers in Pretoria were sizable, gatherings in the Johannesburg CBD failed to live up to expectations.

(Pics: Nhlanganiso Mkhonta)

(News24 @TeamNews24) Julius Malema hand-in-hand with Carl Niehaus and ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula, as they make their way through the Pretoria CBD. The EFF leader said his party had an ‘appointment with the streets’ but won’t be handing a memorandum to anyone.