Johannesburg - DA cannot and will not stop the overwhelming frustration and pain of people in defence of Cyril Ramaphosa, and these frustrations will be felt on the streets on Monday, according to the EFF.
“It is no retreat, no surrender. Ramaphosa must resign now!” said the EFF’s Sinawo Thambo, in a press statement, in response to the DA taking legal action against the planned national shutdown on Monday.
Yesterday, the DA announced that it would be launching legal action aimed at forcing the EFF to abandon its national shutdown, which has recently been joined by a host of other political parties and trade unions, including Nehawu, the UDM, the SA Federation of Trade Unions and the African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance.
The DA said it took seriously threats of violence after some members of the EFF urged business owners to close their businesses during the national shutdown on Monday, or risk having their businesses looted.
“We are deeply concerned by the intimidatory tactics being employed by members of the EFF, who are threatening ‘consequences’ for any business that dares to open and trade on the day, and for any adult or child who dares to go to work or school on that day,” DA leader John Steenhuisen said.
He said the party had been receiving calls from concerned South Africans who feared that the shutdown would result in acts of violence and looting.
The DA said it took these threats seriously as they had the potential to affect businesses, livelihoods and lives.
“There is mounting evidence on social media and in public statements by EFF leaders, members and supporters that they are fully prepared to break the law in pursuit of their own political agenda,” Steenhuisen said.
Other acts of intimidation the DA is accusing the EFF of committing include giving the education minister seven days to close schools and issuing a letter to the OR Tambo International Airport authorities warning them not to allow any flights or business activity on the day.
The DA said it had written to the defence minister and SAPS asking them to consider deploying the army on standby should the protest turn violent and for Police Minister Bheki Cele to heighten the police’s presence.
Steenhuisen has also taken the matter to court to interdict the protest and to ensure that the EFF complies with the conditions of permits issued by relevant municipalities giving permission for peaceful protest.
In reaction, Thambo said the EFF had noted the DA’s intended legal action, calling it a cheap ‘publicity stunt’ aimed at salvaging the career of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“The first fallacy of the claims by the DA is that the national shutdown is illegal and will be characterised by violence, and mobilisation towards it has been based on intimidation. This is false, as the right to protest is enshrined in the Constitution and will not only be practised by the EFF, but by multiple stakeholders who have expressed their intention to be part of the shutdown.
“The second baseless claim of intimidation and predicted violence is part and parcel 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.”
The Star