Julius Malema confirmed, at a fiery press briefing, that the EFF will embark on a ‘Sharpeville-esque’ national shutdown on Monday, 20 March 2023.
EFF national shutdown: Here’s what to expect on 20 March 2023
The Red Berets’ commander-in-chief did not mince his words when he addressed the media from the party’s headquarters on Sunday.
In fact, in no uncertain terms, Malema made it abundantly clear that the national shutdown, prompted by the never-ending loadshedding nightmare and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s perceived incompetence, will dwarf the scale of violence we witnessed in the ‘Free Jacob Zuma‘ riots.
Malema added that the EFF national shutdown is also motivated by:
- rising costs of living for all South Africans;
- rising levels of unemployment and poverty;
- increasing levels of crime, particularly murder and gender-based violence;
- [Ramaphosa’s] decision to close down coal-powered stations without consultation with the people of South Africa;
- rising levels of corruption;
- lack of service delivery; and
- collapsing public infrastructure, particularly hospitals and roads.
“The national shutdown means that there will be no school, no university, factories and no business will be operating on that day. All municipalities and all major cities will be shut down and there will be no work on that day. All major roads will be barricaded and all ports of entry, including roads that lead to borders, will be closed…,” Malema warned.
The EFF leader touted the national shutdown as a historic display of frustration toward the ANC government and invited all spheres of society to join a protest he described would make the deadly riots against the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma look like ‘Mickey Mouse’.
Moreover, Malema warned truck drivers, particularly freight workers who deliver minerals to the Richards Bay port, to heed the EFF’s call for a stay-away or face the wrath of frustrated South Africans.
The EFF further fanned flames by likening the EFF national shutdown to the Sharpeville massacre which, ironically, took place on Monday, 21 March 1960, and claimed 69 lives and left at least 180 anti-apartheid protesters injured.
“Like Sharpeville, we are not scared of the state power. Let the state come with its power, we’ll come with the mass power,” Malema warned.
While details of road closures and hotspot areas are yet to be communicated, Malema did confirm that “everything is going to come to a standstill.”
“We don’t want to see a single truck moving. We don’t want to see a single train moving. We don’t want to see a single bus moving, unless it’s taking people to the picket lines,” the EFF leader exclaimed.
This is the first time Malema has surfaced with an official date for the EFF national shutdown.
In July 2022, the EFF leader had warned of a similar nationwide picket in response to Eskom’s rampant loadshedding, but an official date never materialised.
We will keep updating this article with more information on the EFF national shutdown.
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