National shutdown: Make or break for Malema as EFF puts it all on the line

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is playing a high-stakes political poker game with its call for a national shutdown. If it fails in its attempt to use its political muscle to unseat President Cyril Ramaphosa, it will be a setback for its ambitions in the 2024 national elections, says a political analyst.

EFF national shutdown

Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast said: “The EFF wants to use this march to flex its political muscle in preparation for the upcoming general election.

“In as much as I don’t think they will manage to bring his country to a standstill … if they succeed, it means they would be able to remove those at the helm of power.

“They could dislodge the ANC from the helm, but I don’t think it will come down to that. I don’t think everyone will jump onto their bandwagon and support them.”

Malema’s personal vendetta

Breakfast added that EFF leader Julius Malema “is pursuing a personal vendetta against Ramaphosa because he presided over a disciplinary hearing that expelled Malema from the ANC”.

“I don’t think that he has forgiven him; he seems to be holding a grudge against him due to that, in my view.

“There is also the VBS Bank issue, so these matters are in the bigger scheme of things with regards to this planned march.

“These are issues that the public should not be drawn into because they are personal issues.”

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There was a need to strike a balance between the EFF’s right to protest, which is accorded by the constitution, and the public’s right to freedom of movement.

“Therefore, you cannot tell people not to go to work because you want to embark on a march. You cannot force a notion down the throats of people,” he said.

One of the demands to be ventilated through the EFF shutdown on Monday, is for Ramaphosa to step down over the Phala Phala saga. The energy crisis, particularly load shedding, and other service delivery failures also featured in their demands.

Various groups expressed opposition to the shutdown, including the ANC, business and the Democratic Alliance, which unsuccessfully tried to interdict the protest in court.

Individuals such as the civic activist Nhlanhla Lux opposed the action, while uMkhonto we Sizwe Liberation War Veterans (MKLWV) distanced themselves from the march and denied that its members planned to participate in it.

“We condemn any attempt at destabilising our democracy, through any violence, provocation, lack of discipline and intolerance at any level.

“We fought [too] hard for this democracy to allow it to be undermined by lawlessness,” MKLWV said in a statement.

ALSO READ: ‘Count us out,’ military veterans tell EFF about ‘opportunistic’ shutdown

Business plan to close

Many businesses planned to close on Monday, including retail, small businesses and hawkers, in fear of their goods looted by the protesters.

Many Johannesburg vehicle dealers were seen removing merchandise from showrooms.

However, Breakfast said disparities between the rich and the poor in South Africa justified the protests. This was accompanied by high unemployment, high poverty and inequality levels in the country.

“There is a case to be made in terms of disparities between the haves and the have-nots in terms of unemployment and so on. I think people need to take a stand against those things because we cannot have a society that is uneven like this,” he said.

Judging by the security forces that were put on high alert nationwide, a serious threat to national security is envisaged.

“It seems the government wants to make sure what happened in [the July riots of] 2021 does not occur again with regards to the looting and the threat to national security. That outbreak of violence could have led to a regime change. It was very close to that,” he said.

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“We don’t know what kind of information does the security architecture have. For instance, did they intercept any threats that we don’t know as the public,” Breakfast asked.

It has been reported the state is acting on information that there is a plan to burn tyres and occupy strategic roads and positions to block traffic, like freight vehicles.

Breakfast said the EFF shouldn’t have used the march to sneak in its own political issues through the back door.

“In a democracy if you want to force the president to resign you have to do that via parliament.”