The DA electricity march was expected to be peaceful until factions of the ANC Youth League turned up uninvited to defend their headquarters in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
What happened at the DA electricity march?
The official opposition party took to the streets in both cities to call the ruling ANC to account for decades-long governance failures, one of which culminated in more than 15 years of rampant loadshedding.
In Johannesburg, DA leader John Steenhuisen led thousands of supporters to Luthuli House, where he delivered an impassioned speech peppered with electioneering.
“If we want to end loadshedding, we have to start ANC-shedding. And that will only happen if you remember on voting day exactly what they did to you,” he quipped.
The DA electricity march, which started at Mary Fitzgerald Square, in Newtown, almost disintegrated into chaos when a large group of protesters clad in ANC regalia and armed with ‘sjamboks’ turned up to barricade the entrance of Luthuli House.
When asked about the whips, ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe insisted this was, in no way, a display of aggression from their comrades.
“Our parents used to sjambok us when we came home late.. We are not going to be sjamboking anyone,” Mabe added.
As reported by eNCA, Johannesburg metro police used public order tactics to contain a situation that may have spiralled into chaos, and after a short picket outside Luthuli House, the crowds were successfully dispersed.
In Cape Town, tensions were palpable outside the ANC branch’s offices, where DA protesters gathered to amplify the ‘Power To The People’ march.
However, before proceedings got underway, a large group of ANC protesters turned up to the party’s branch offices with every intention to face-off with their counterparts.
It took a team of public order police to disperse the group, and avert what could have been a fiery encounter.
At the time this article was published, no reporters of violence between the two parties had surfaced.