Economic Freedom Fighters president Julius Malema addressing supporters on 29 September 2022. Photo: The Citizen/Sibongumenzi Sibiya.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema addressed South Africa on Tuesday regarding the planned national shutdown scheduled for 20 March.
Malema referenced Marikana and apartheid, stating that the EFF is “ready for anything”.
In terms of logistics, Malema said there is no starting point for the national shutdown.
He said protesters can march wherever they feel the need, whether it’s at the Union Buildings, in the streets, at borders, or even at the JSE to take on white monopoly capital.
He said the red berets want to hold President Cyril Ramaphosa accountable “because he has violated his oath of office”.
“Therefore we cannot fold our arms when the country is on a brink of collapse.”
Regarding the future generation, Malema emphasised the need to raise their voices in the face of challenges, dismissing concerns about the shutdown’s economic impact
Malema said the youth is “going to ask us what we have done when the country was faced with so many challenges and the only thing we can do is to raise our voices.”
He also said shutdown will not impact the economy, comparing that excuse to the call for sanctions against apartheid in the late 80s.
He said: “That argument will not arise, we have been there before. […] We heard that already when we called for sanctions against apartheid.”
The EFF leader also criticised citizens who have a “chicken view”.
“People with a chicken view, they only see here. We have a giraffe view, we can see the future. We knew this day will come. Now all of them are running like headless chickens as if they didn’t know this day would come.”
He said essential services will be protected and workers who provide essential services “will have access to their workplace”.
Police will also be on standby.
“Our structures will be cooperative, we’ll makes sure clinics and hospitals are functional, we will not tamper with the Nehawu strike,” Malema said.
He vowed that every EFF branch, public representative and progressive force “will put his or her body on the streets” to protect those involved in the protest.
Malema said the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) plans to send “instigators, agent provocateurs and outside forces who want to give the march a bad name”.
On Monday, the EFF released a statement addressing the DA’s “frivolous legal action against the planned shutdown”, saying it built on baseless claims.
During his briefing on Tuesday, Malema said the DA has an issue with the protest because “the white man is the self-appointed supervisors of black skin”.
WATCH: EFF national shutdown a ‘clear threat’ – DA
He said if white men “are not involved, [they think] there’s going to be violence. That’s why there were three white people talking to ‘clever blacks’ on Monday, during the DA’s briefing”.
According to Malema, the DA’s “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”.
He said this stems from the “racist presumption that African people have no capacity to express themselves in a peaceful manner”.
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