PHUTI MOSOMANE
THE Economic Freedom Fighters has dismissed the intended legal action by the Democratic Alliance (DA) against the planned national shutdown as both “frivolous and anti-democratic”.
“The DA’s anti-democratic publicity stunt is frivolous, misguided and is a confirmation that the DA still seeks to salvage the Cyril Ramaphosa presidency as a proxy of its neo-liberal policy outlook,” red berets said on Tuesday ahead of a media briefing by EFF leader Julius Malema on Wednesday to outline the plans of the national shutdown.
The EFF dismissed as “fallacy” allegations by the DA that the national shutdown taking place next week is illegal and would be characterized by violent and anarchy.
“This is false, as the right to protest is enshrined in the Constitution of South Africa and will not only be practiced by the EFF but by multiple stakeholders who have expressed their desire to form part of the shutdown,” said the EFF.
Malema’s far-left pan-Africanist party said that “predicting violence and claim of intimidation” was part of the DA’s “racist” philosophical outlook, which depends strongly on the supposed irrationality of black people and the racist presumption that African people have no capacity to express themselves in a peaceful manner.
“Their racism is clear because when they formed part of the national demonstrations against former President Jacob Zuma, they never feared any forms violence or intimidation. Today, they are in the same camp with Ramaphosa and are not part of the march, the march will suddenly be violent,” EFF said.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said on Tuesday that his party has written to the Minister of Defence Thandi Modise to ensure that they put on standby adequate soldiers for deployment and ensure that the necessary resources are available in order to ensure that there is no outbreak of violence and looting.
Steenhuisen said the DA is taking steps to pre-empt this pending violence and prevent it from taking place at all, or at the very least to lessen the harm perpetrated by the EFF.
“We are approaching the Court to ensure that the EFF complies with the conditions of permits issued by relevant Municipalities giving permission for peaceful protest.”
“We are seeking a Court interdict to ensure that the EFF leadership formally retracts all intimidation letters that they have issued, such as the letter issued to OR Tambo Airport warning the airport authority not to allow any flights or business activity on the day,” said Steenhuisen.
The EFF-led national shutdown is expected to be joined by the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), the Land Party and the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC).
The EFF said the DA has vested interest in the continuation of Ramaphosa as “mascot of their financial interest and those of their handlers and any massive demonstration against him are a threat to their agenda to privatise all spheres of the South African society”.
Earlier on Tuesday, the City of Cape Town, which is run by the DA, filed an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court to interdict the planned national shutdown.
By only planning to interdict the national shutdown in the City of Cape Town, the EFF said, this goes to show “their narrow fetish to categorise the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape as a province separate from South Africa”.
ActionSA President Herman Mashaba said his party unequivocally condemned the EFF’s threats of a “national shutdown” on the 20th of March.
“We particularly condemn the EFF’s threats of mass anarchy and lawlessness, and that businesses that do not voluntarily shutdown may be subjected to looting,” said Mashaba.
“We cannot allow a radical minority to dictate the economic activity of our nation, especially when we are already facing significant barriers to improving our society for all. The EFF’s stated threat to national key points, including OR Tambo and ports of trade, is not only unresponsible, but criminal.”
On Monday next week, the UDM will also be picketing outside the North Gauteng High Court in Tshwane where NUMSA and other organisations are challenging the State of the National Disaster on electricity and calling for the state to compensate businesses directly affected by the load-shedding crisis.
INSIDE POLITICS
