Anti-Zuma protests could turn ugly
• Prohibition notice overturned after Pretoria court rules in favour of Save SA march organisers
Protests expected to go ahead around the country on Friday demanding that President Jacob Zuma step down could take an ugly turn if staunch supporters of the president carried out their threats to defend him and the ANC against the “enemy”.
Protests against President Jacob Zuma expected to go ahead throughout the country on Friday could take an ugly turn if staunch supporters of the president keep true to their threats to defend him and the ANC against the “enemy”.
However, the main march to the Union Buildings, organised by the Save SA campaign, had to turn to the courts at the 11th hour after organisers received a “prohibition notice” from the Tshwane metro police on Thursday afternoon.
The campaign had to apply to the chief magistrate of Pretoria for an urgent interdict to review and set aside the notice so its march could go ahead.
Just before 7.30pm on Thursday, the court ruled in Save SA’s favour and the march was given permission to go ahead.
Activists from different organisations and civil society had already started gathering in Church Square, where the march would start.
On Wednesday night, a group of men reportedly burnt their banners‚ vowing to “defend Zuma”, but this has not deterred the protesters.
The DA, which is organising a march in Johannesburg, has also been threatened by members of the ANC Youth League in Gauteng, resulting in the opposition party laying criminal charges.
The party was originally going to march to the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters, but changed its mind after police said they could not guarantee their safety.
This comes as the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association in KwaZulu-Natal reportedly said it was sending 600 former guerrillas to defend Luthuli House.
The ANC has distanced itself from calls to defend the party.
“We condemn in the harshest possible terms reports of people seeking to take up arms in the name of the ANC,” spokeswoman Khusela Sangoni said on Thursday.
“Such behaviour has no place in a democratic society.”
The governing party called on South Africans to “organise in a calm and measured fashion”.
Calls for Zuma to resign or for the ANC to remove him have grown since his late-night Cabinet reshuffle last week in which Pravin Gordhan was removed as finance minister and Mcebisi Jonas as his deputy.
The call was then elevated a few days later, when S&P Global Ratings downgraded SA’s credit rating to junk status.
A few ANC leaders also spoke out against Zuma, but the party later closed ranks around the president.
The ANC’s alliance partner, the South African Communist Party (SACP), will march from Marabastad to the offices of the National Treasury in Pretoria on Friday.
The march will be led by the party’s central committee and Gauteng provincial executive committee members, which includes second deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila.
Save SA said Mapaila had pledged support for its campaign and said the SACP would join the march to the Union Buildings after its protest.