By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are calling for a national shutdown in protest to the increased loadshedding and are also calling for president Cyril Ramaphosa to resign.
The proposed shutdown has been scheduled for 20 March 2023.
In the run-up to the shutdown, the party has been warning communities to shut businesses or risk looting.
According to police spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints) has begun preparing for the day.
Mathe said: “While plans will be in place to ensure law and order, we are urging all people in this country to heed the country’s laws and not engage in acts that will result in them having criminal records.”
Mathe responded to a video of EFF members on the back of a bakkie using a loudspeaker to caution small businesses and factories to close on the day of the shutdown.
The speaker is heard saying: “We are saying to you, close down all your businesses to avoid the looting. Close down all your shops to avoid the looting. Close down all your factories to avoid the lootings (sic).
The speaker continues: Close down everything; nothing will be operating on that day; we are avoiding the looting. So, we are saying to you, come and join the march, my brother; come and join the march, my sister.
Mathe said the Gatherings Act stated that it was the responsibility of the “organisers and convenors of gatherings… to take the necessary steps to ensure that the gathering at all times proceeds peacefully and in an orderly manner”.
Meanwhile the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) also announced that they will be joining the red barrats during the protest.
PAC wrote on their Twitter, “The call for Shutdown resonates with the PAC declaration that the “ANC is a Government of National Disaster” All PAC structures are encouraged to join the Shutdown, Izwe-Lethu.”
One of the countr’s labour movements, the South African Federation Of Trade Unions (Saftu’s) confirmed that they share the same sentiments as EFF.
Zwelinzima Vavi, Saftu’s secretary general, “This means that we will mobilise our own members to join the protest across the country, however, our participation has conditions which have been discussed with the EFF. SAFTU is not willing to just join a political party programme, we can’t do that we are an independent federation. We can only join a broad front of left formations working together to achieve a common goal of an effective national shutdown.