EFF NATIONAL SHUTDOWN UPDATES | Carl Niehaus says ...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on hard-won freedoms to be protected ahead of Human Rights Day on Tuesday.

The president said the freedoms were achieved after many decades of bitter struggle.

“One hundred years ago, in May 1923, the first Bill of Rights in South Africa’s history was adopted by the African National Congress. It had no legal standing at the time, but it clearly expressed the desire for the equal rights of all people to be recognised and guaranteed,” he said.

As members of SAPS, Tshwane metro police department and SANDF patrolled the outskirts of the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday , Carl Niehaus, the expelled ANC member and now founding member of the African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance, sent President Cyril Ramaphosa a warning.

“Those very security services that you may want to use against the people may turn against you — and be careful, because they may very well be the ones who will come into the Union Buildings, pull you out of your chair, take you down the road to Kgosi Mampuru prison and put you where you belong,” he said.

Dlamini, together with KwaZulu-Natal provincial leader Mongezi Twala addressed members and urged them to be ready for “war” but “disciplined as we take over the street” as part of the national shutdown campaign.

The party is undertaking a shutdown of the country, calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign and an end to the crippling electricity crisis. Police and other law enforcement officials are monitoring the situation.

The group is expected to march to Pixley KaSeme street in the Durban CBD.  

Mfundo Mkhize

EFF Secretary General Marshall Dlamini rallied a 400-strong group of supporters in Durban’s Glenwood with a rousing “Ayihlome fighter ayihlome” on Monday.
Image: Mfundo Mkhize

Among those leading the national shutdown action at Church Square in Pretoria is former ANC member Carl Neihaus. 

Niehaus was there representing his civil movement African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance (Areta), which he said intends to register as a political party. 

He said the strong law enforcement contingent was reminiscent of the 1976 Soweto uprising.

He claimed some soldiers and police members told him they were unhappy about being deployed as they share the protesters’ sentiments.

Members of the military, police and Tshwane metro police department are out in full force at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, as protesters taking part in the national shutdown are expected to descend on the area. 

Officers armed with shields stood near the fence separating the national key point from a public park. 

March 20 2023 - 10:24

Leader of the Soweto Parliament Nhlanhla “Lux” Dlamini says he won’t tolerate “nonsense” as he counteracts the EFF’s national shutdown.

'Ankole must go!" -these are the words on a banner attached in front of Paul Kruger statue at PTA church square as EFF supporters demonstrate #NationalShutdown #EFFNationalShutdown

All routes are clear in Durban, eThekwini Municipality said on Monday morning. "All routes in and out of the City are clear according to the Metro Police and are safe for motorists to use."

"Traffic congestion on the M25, from Dube Village to Bester, has cleared. Crowds in that vicinity are being supervised by law enforcement."

Nivashni Nair

A Soweto woman whose house windows were shattered by the alleged explosion of a bomb early on Monday told TimesLIVE she has been awake since the incident at around 4am.

Julia Motlhamme said she heard a blast and her frightened children, who were sleeping in their room, ran to her bedroom. This came after the window in the bedroom in which the children were sleeping was shattered. 

The party's secretary general Marshall Dlamini is also present and is expected to address the crowd. Armed with placards denouncing the state of affairs currently besetting the country, the members are also chanting struggle songs.

Police and other law enforcement officials are monitoring the situation. 

Mfundo Mkhize

While on a normal day members of the public would be lurking around, exercising taking pictures and some playing soccer, today its quiet. Pretoria CBD is quiet except for the sounds of hooting empty taxis as they go on their usual business. While most of the shops are closed, some big corporations like Macdonals and Picknpay are open and operating.

Waste management, municipal services, Areyeng bus services are still operating.

In Pretoria Church Square, police, TMPD members,the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and members of private security observe from a few meters away as some EFF supporters demonstrate, singing struggle songs.

"Ankole must Go"- these are the words written on a banner hanging in front of Paul Kruger statue in Pretoria. Supporters are downed in Red Eff shirts, some in black shirts while someone are in camouflaged regalia.

One of the community members, who asked not to be named due to fear of being victimised said they were against the closing of the road, especially because it was a small road that the community use to move around.

“If they want to close the road, they must go to the big main road, not this one. If they close here, that means we can’t move around and they are making us, as a community, to suffer. Now we are the ones that can’t move around. To us, it didn’t make sense why the this small road should be closed,” said a community member.

Another resident said the protesters started closing off the road around 7:30am.

He said after burning the tyres and closing the road, the group moved to another road and did the same thing.

“Soon after they left, we decided to open the road. This is our road and we use it on daily basis, if it’s closed, that’s means we can’t do anything also,” he said.

Sakhiseni Nxumalo

Inanda residents cleared burning debris and swept Zabalaza road after it was closed on Monday morning by protesters.
Image: Sandile Ndlovu

SANDF members, private security and police are stationed at the Transnet port entrance as well as the Harbour Arterial gate.

The EFF said the port was a possible site at which they would protest as part of their national shutdown on Monday.

The area as well as the nearby Boardwalk mall was quiet on Monday morning. The party’s provincial leadership said in KZN the plan was to disrupt the economic centres that contained key harbours and industry.

Lwazi Hlangu  

SANDF members, private security and police are stationed at the Transnet port entrance as well as the Harbour Arterial gate.
Image: Nqubeko Mbhele

The area nearby Boardwalk mall was quiet on Monday morning.
Image: Nqubeko Mbhele

As the EFF threatened to shut down the country on Monday, TimesLIVE readers have claimed it will do more harm than good.

The shutdown is calling for the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa and an end to load-shedding, among other issues. 

The effects of the national shutdown appeared to be minimal in Thembisa, Ekurhuleni, on Monday. 

Main roads leading in and out of the township, including Andrew Mapheto Drive, were cleared after they were earlier blocked by burning tyres and rocks.

Dlamini claimed at least two petrol bombs were thrown at his home, with one hitting the roof.  

“Just after 4am I received calls from the entire neighbourhood saying there were bombs and gunshots going off. ‘We think it is at your house’. I received calls from people inside my house saying ‘We don’t know what to do. A bomb hit the roof and there was a second explosion in the yard’,” said Dlamini.

Gayton McKenzie: ‘The fear of the EFF protest has brought the country to a standstill’

Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie has weighed in on the EFF’s national shutdown on Monday, claiming “the fear of the EFF protest has already brought the country to a standstill”.

Given the National shutdown pronouncements, Metrobus is operating a full service as promised throughout the weekend, although we had to divert buses in places such as Soweto.
However operations are proceeding smoothly so far. pic.twitter.com/zhcMdIveci

Durban central was quiet with taxis operating as usual on Monday ahead of the EEFF national shutdown. 

A team travelling through the city said it seemed to be business as usual with people going to work under the watchful eyes of a strong police and private security presence. 

Police minister Bheki Cele on Monday said 57 people had been arrested across the country. 

Speaking to the media in Mayfair, Johannesburg, Cele said most of those arrested were nabbed in Gauteng. 

“Most were found making fires, blocking roads and trying to prevent people from going to work. They were not peaceful,” he said. 

What will the day bring forth? How many businesses will lose much-needed income? How many will be hurt or (God forbid) lose their lives? How many will be injured or imprisoned? Peaceful protests my foot. We hide behind ‘the right to protest’ knowing full well it means violence ????

March 20 2023 - 06:54

An SABC news crew has come under attack in Cape Town. 

The incident reportedly happened in the early hours on Monday on the N2 near Borcherds Quarry in Nyanga. 

The crew was collecting visuals of the national shutdown when two men allegedly approached their vehicle and hit the car with an object. 

A crew member seated in the front of the vehicle was struck on the head with the object.

Members in Atteridgeville who were ready to commute to work this morning woke up to blocked streets on Maunde streets which is a way in to the biggest rank in the area transporting commuters to Centurion amoung others #EFFNationalShutdown

Protesters taking part in the EFF's planned national shutdown on Monday have been warned not to prohibit the movement of others. 

The  shutdown is calling for the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa and an end to load-shedding, among other things. 

The EFF warned businesses countrywide to close their doors or risk possible looting.

The Norwood Community Police Forum (CPF), as are forums in other communities across the country, reassured its residents that law enforcement will put measures in place to ensure their safety and security.

KZN: Tyres are burning underneath a bridge near the old Durban airport as the EFF embark on a national shutdown.

Police presence in Braamfontein as the #NationalShutdown has started. 
Footage from Sunday evening showed police arresting numerous people on the streets of Braamfontein. Law enforcement were seen clearing the roads of bricks and rubble after the arrests. Tear gas was deployed however it is unclear if this disruption was in relation to the planned protest, dubbed the 'national shutdown' by the EFF, on Monday.

Arrests  made in  Braamfontein

Police officers were seen arresting people in Braamfontein on March 19 2023 and law enforcement cleared roads lined with bricks and rubble on the eve of the planned 'national shutdown' protest.

A defiant Julius Malema has vowed to push ahead with the EFF's national shutdown on Monday despite two court interdicts preventing violence and warnings from authorities that anyone breaking the law “will be dealt with”.

“Whether they kill or not kill, we will be on the streets of South Africa,” Malema said. “We don’t care what the security cluster says or the judge says. No-one can stop a revolution.”

But the national joint operational and intelligence structure (Natjoints) comprising the defence force, the state security agency and the police laid down the law on Friday. 

“This is our update to the country at large, that there will be no national shutdown. We know of a planned protest. To say there will be a national shutdown is misleading,” said Natjoints chair deputy national police commissioner Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili.

Durban Metro police confirmed an EFF protest was taking place in Chatsworth, south of Durban on Sunday night. 

The party would embark on a national shutdown on Monday.

Durban metro police spokesman Senior Superintendent Boysie Zungu said the EFF protest was in Link Road in Shallcross. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa has deployed 3,474 South African National Defence Force members until April 17 to assist police under Operation Prosper. 

Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said on Sunday National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairperson Amos Masondo were informed of the military deployment, in co-operation with police, for the “prevention and combating of crime as well as maintenance, and preservation of law and order in South Africa”. 

National police commissioner Gen Fanie Masemola has assured passengers boarding  and disembarking flights at OR Tambo international airport in Johannesburg of their safety during the national shutdown on Monday.

Masemola, accompanied by Gauteng commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela and deputy national commissioner Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili, was speaking at the airport on Sunday.

Sunday Times 

Big business plans to defy  the EFF’s  call for a “national shutdown” tomorrow, though retailers, shopping malls and key economic hubs such as airports and ports have beefed up security.

The EFF has called for the shutdown to back its demand that President Cyril Ramaphosa leave office and to  protest against  load-shedding.  

Its  tactics  have included threats to businesses that remain open.

Businesses planning to operate are taking precautions as the 2021 riots that  hit KwaZulu-Natal and, to a lesser extent, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, are still fresh in people’s minds.

By late Friday afternoon, the army was out on some streets in Gauteng and EFF members were out on some streets in East London and Mdantsane “directing traffic”, as a friend there told me.

By sunset tomorrow we will know who or what has prevailed in our country. The might of the state and the rule of law, or chaos and intimidation. Welcome to the EFF’s ‘national shutdown’,  organised to protest against the economic damage of Eskom’s load-shedding and to call for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s resignation in the wake of revelations of the theft of dollars hidden in a sofa at his game farm in Limpopo.

The protest will not fix Eskom and it won’t move Ramaphosa. But that may not be its real intent. EFF leader Julius Malema needs to test his political muscle before campaigning starts for  next year’s elections. The extent to which he can bring people onto the streets tomorrow may be a good gauge of the electoral support he can expect then.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, security cluster ministers, the country's official opposition, several non-governmental organisations and some political commentators all agreed on one thing this week: defend South Africa against a national shutdown led by EFF leader Julius Malema.

The protest, expected to take place on Monday, is to call for the resignation of the president and an end to load-shedding among other demands. Malema urged businesses to shut their doors on the day.

If all Lungile Phenyane wanted was her two minutes of fame, she surely got it. The formerly unknown DA member hogged the headlines when it emerged that she was vying for all the top DA leadership positions ahead of the party’s federal congress next month.

Hogarth hears that she has since withdrawn from the race to be federal leader and has also decided not to contest Dion George for federal finance chair.

But she still insists on taking on Helen Zille for federal chair and will also avail herself to be elected chair of the federal council, deputy chair of the federal council and deputy federal chair. Since Phenyane is unlikely to win anything,

Hogarth proposes that the federal congress establish a new post in honour of Phenyane's tenacity: chair of chairs.

The EFF-led call for a national shutdown on Monday has placed the country on tenterhooks at a time it should be focusing on finding solutions to the many critical problems facing it.

Concerns about possible disruptions, even violence, have moved the government to try to re-assure the public of its readiness to deal with any eventuality.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has finally confirmed what many of us suspected all along — he had not consulted his colleagues in the ANC and government when he announced he would appoint a minister of electricity. 

Some of his ministers, including minerals and energy minister Gwede Mantashe and then-minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubele, sounded unconvincing in front of TV cameras as they tried to explain the president’s reasoning in appointing an electricity minister just moments after the president finished delivering his state of the nation address last month. 

The country’s on tenterhooks. Many are gnashing their teeth. Will the EFF push us over the precipice of revolution? Fear and excitement abound.

Fear for those with businesses to lose. An opportunity to loot is always exciting for those without jobs. Whose economy is it anyway, they’d argue.

Will tomorrow be our January 6 moment? Remember the storming of the Capitol in the US, with Donald Trump supporters overpowering security and trashing the seat of power in the biggest economy in the world? Or the storming of the Bastille, as insurgents took control of medieval Paris? Or will it be July 2021 riots 2.0?