Year of protest action in the capital city

It was a busy year in Pretoria with protests in 2024 by various organisations over job creation, service delivery and other issues.

In January, a group of security guards gathered at the Tshwane House over the future of their employment after hearing about possible retrenchments.

The members of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies picketed outside the offices of International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola in February to force him to acknowledge anti-Semitism exists and has escalated, to rectify the untruths created in the media.

2024 protests in Pretoria

Later the same month, the unemployed medical professionals, dressed in scrubs, marched to the Union Buildings to table their demands, which included a budget to employ all unemployed health care workers and essential workers.

The University of Pretoria also had to obtain a court order against striking workers, who opened a case against the university after the police fired rubber bullets at them.

This was after a wage dispute between the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union and the university, which turned chaotic.

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In April, AfriForum Youth marched to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum appealing to President Cyril Ramaphosa to scrap the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act.

Students marched to the department of higher education to demand that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s outstanding funds be paid to beneficiaries immediately.

In May, a group of law enforcement graduates marched from Tshwane House to the Union Buildings to demand jobs.

Law enforcement graduate march

Members of the EFF, ANC and South African Students Congress picketed outside Pretoria High School for Girls following allegations of racism. However, the allegations were later dismissed.

Ford South Africa workers also embarked on a week-long strike over profit-share bonuses.

In August, Eersterust residents closed down roads with burning tyres, rocks and tree branches following four days without power.

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EFF Tshwane also joined Zimbabweans and marched from the Union Buildings to the Zimbabwe embassy to handover a memorandum demanding the standardisation of passport fees and address the crisis in Zimbabwe.

About 700 employees from the BMW plant in Rosslyn went on strike after being placed under investigation for fraud.

National Day of Action

In October, hundreds of members of union federation Cosatu marched to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as part of the union’s National Day of Action.

Last month, AfriForum again marched to the Voortrekker Monument to oppose the Bela Bill.

The ANC in Tshwane marched to Tshwane House over lack of service delivery.