The attempt by the EFF to effect a national shutdown on Monday has dominated national debate.
The attempt by the EFF to effect a national shutdown on Monday has dominated national debate, with ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula calling the campaign by the country’s third-largest party a flop, while EFF leader Julius Malema has claimed victory at every available opportunity.
The two leaders have a rich history. When Mbalula’s term as ANC youth league president was over, he endorsed Malema as his successor and handed him the keys to the radical young lions’ stronghold.
But, in the past week, the men have engaged in a war of words that has been perceived by some as a power struggle instead of political debate about the myriad problems South Africans face on a daily basis.
Malema managed, to some degree, to shape the political discourse this week and in the weeks leading up to the shutdown attempt, in a country where the horrors of the eight days of riots and looting in July 2021 have not been forgotten.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) and ActionSA rushed to the media and the courts to declare their opposition to the national shutdown. They and other stakeholders were also concerned about the impact it would have on the economy.
While Malema painted his campaign as a show of force in the build-up to next year’s elections, he was unable to drum up the participation he envisioned.
Historically, EFF marches have gathered a considerable amount of traction. In 2016, thousands of members marched to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to protest against “white monopoly capital”.
In the Eskom march that took place in 2020, at least 20 000 people were estimated to have participated, taking their grievances to Megawatt Park on a rainy Johannesburg day.
On Monday, Malema failed to pull anywhere near the same numbers. In Pretoria, where he joined marchers, an estimated 4 500 red berets took part. In eThekwini, the number of marchers started out at between 200 and 300, before increasing. In other parts of the country, numbers were low enough to attract scorn on social media.
While the EFF failed in this respect, political analysts Dr Ongama Mtimka and Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast contend that the protest was a relative success.
Mtimka said the EFF had become a political vehicle for doing something about national grievances.
The ‘ultimate revolutionaries’
Part of the EFF’s strategy, said Mtimka, had been to market themselves as the ultimate revolutionaries in South Africa — those who were prepared to hold governments to account and do almost unthinkable things to force President Cyril Ramaphosa to answer for the Phala Phala scandal.
“Remember that, from the balance of power point of view, the ANC has got unfettered power; they have unequalled power. If only the official platforms were used, no message would get across. So, my sense is that, as long as the party still respects the boundaries of civility, and order, even as it agitates for transformation, it’s still okay.”
Mtimka said the EFF had “aspirations of chaos” which led to concern among citizens. He added that the EFF could not complain about unfair media coverage when its leader had a penchant for aggressive rhetoric.
“The threats of violence [from the EFF] that characterised the debate before the national shutdown were unwarranted. I think that one thing the EFF has got to worry about and manage, is how they may alienate themselves from the greater, generally peace-loving South Africans, with rhetoric that sometimes borders on warmongering.”
Mtimka said the DA’s concerns about the shutdown were warranted.
“Obviously, they were foolhardy in wanting to ask for the interdict against the march itself but they were rightly concerned about violence. I mean, if they weren’t, or none of the stakeholders were, we wouldn’t be a learning nation. As a learning nation, if people were generally calling for military organisation, it’s foolhardy not to respond in a measure that meets the risk.”
The EFF has criticised the state’s response to the shutdown. More than 500 people were arrested and over 24 000 tyres seized, with authorities claiming these had been “strategically” placed for nefarious purposes — setting them alight and blocking routes.
Mtimka said the massive mobilisation of police, army and private security was justified.
The government had made a competent call and deployed forces correctly. He added that the state’s response to the national shutdown was better than its response to the July riots.
“So, from my book, there’s a lot of improvement that was seen, to the extent that it begs the question, ‘Why can’t we have similar coordination to deal with gang violence and the mafiosi, that’s creeping up in economic sectors in the country?’”
Breakfast said the EFF may have used the phrase “shutdown” as a threat to the government but it was business as usual in most areas. He said part of the media coverage of the event stemmed from the response by security forces.
It would be unfair to gauge the EFF’s relevance via the national shutdown. But he added there was a perception that it was disruptive and disrespectful.
In response to the high levels of policing on the day, Breakfast said the government had to show force to avoid a repeat of the 2021 unrest.
“I think the language that they played was very troublesome — that they were going to fight fire with fire. What are we expecting from the state? In terms of the social contract, it says that people are going to elect the government of their choice and, in return, that government has to provide security for its citizens,” he said.
“If the government had not responded the way it did, and then there was an outbreak of violence, I can bet my bottom dollar we would have blamed the government … It is the responsibility of the government — to provide security for its citizens.”
Breakfast said this was the first of many “strategic campaigns” that would take place in the lead-up to the general elections next year. Political parties were taking strategic advantage of the weaknesses of the government in an attempt to dislodge the ANC, he said.
“The possibility that the ANC might lose power in the upcoming general elections is not far-fetched.”