Hundreds of EFF supporters and various sports fans marched to the Department of Arts and Culture on Thursday to demand that stadiums be opened and that minister of arts and culture, Nathi Mthethwa, be axed.

EFF leader Malema said the president should open the country and let people take responsibility for their own lives.

“Open our country, do away with masks, open our economy [and] we will take responsibility for our own lives.”

Malema said even though they encouraged people to vaccinate, no one should be forced to vaccinate or be excluded because they are not vaccinated.

“Even in stadiums, we do not require anyone who is vaccinated or not vaccinated. Let those who want to go to the stadiums do so.

“We believe in science, we believe that the vaccine is a solution to the current problem but do not force people. Our children should get into university, vaccinated or not vaccinated.”

Malema said if the stadiums are not opened in a week, they will go to the South African Football Association (Safa) offices.

“We will try and find our way into the FNB stadium. We will sit inside the stadium and wake up tomorrow and tell them we are still alive and we are from a stadium.”

He said there was no report to suggest that Covid-19 increases after hosting rallies in stadiums and in the absence of that, “it is a lie that Covid-19 spreads because of stadiums being opened”.

Malema said the people most affected by the closure of stadiums are women who depend on selling goods at the stadiums to feed their families.

“For the past two years, they have not been able to do so, these mothers have surrendered to poverty and when a mother surrenders to poverty, the whole family swims in poverty.”

CEO of the South African Supporters Association, Siyabulela Loyilane said they are also supporting the call for the stadiums to open, not just open (for a few) but open at minimum 50%.

“We have been writing to the minister of sports about returning supporters to the stadium and the capacity because if you open for 2 000 supporters it does not make business sense.

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“We need to look at the sports tourism economy, things like what is being affected by stadiums being closed. There is security, media, vendors, the list is endless of people who have actually lost their livelihoods. With supporters back at the stadiums, those people can start getting back to normality and be able to sustain their families. That’s why we are here today.”

Loyilane said it was only stadiums that had not been opened for any events, except for political rallies.

“If the minister does not respond to us within seven days we will open them ourselves. We need to know when and how they are going to be opened.

“You cannot hide behind vaccination because people have vaccinated but there is nowhere in SA where you gain entry by being vaccinated.