THE EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) ‘rejected’ the deployment of members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) across the country, during Monday’s national shutdown which was called for by the opposition party led by Julius Malema.
Parliament has revealed that the deployment of the SANDF will cost the taxpayer about R166,562,058.
EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said the deployment of the military shows that (South African President Cyril) Ramaphosa is ‘bloodthirsty’.
‘The dictator Cyril Ramaphosa, has deployed 3,474 members of the SANDF to suppress peaceful protests against his failed Presidency and crush the calls for his resignation.
‘This act demonstrates the bloodthirsty nature of the current government and the intolerance of the ruling party to dissent and opposition,’ Tambo said.
‘South Africa has degenerated into a military state, and the deployment of the army to suppress the Constitutional right to protest, means we have returned to the dark days of apartheid.
‘The current deployment of the army and law enforcement agencies has surpassed that of the apartheid regime in the 1980s during the State of Emergency, meaning that Ramaphosa has declared war on the people of South Africa,’ he added.
The EFF on Monday morning said there were few vehicles on the streets as South Africans took heed of the national shutdown called for by the opposition party led by Julius Malema.
Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika before 7.00am, EFF national chairperson Veronica Mente said the protest was steaming ahead and ‘everything is good to go’.
She said people who have opted to go to work, ignoring the call to protest, were doing so unhindered by the EFF.
She said: ‘That narrative, that we are going to be breaching other people’s rights has been driven by the governing party and the DA because they want to instil fear in our people.
‘We told our people that protesters will be approaching the streets and if anything happens, because they (the government forces) have planted vigilante groups that are going to be attacking people within our protest, that can be a harm to our innocent citizens of this country.
‘That narrative that we are going to be attacking people, intimidating people and all of that (is not true). People are going to be joining the march in numbers. If someone says the country is going on as normal, that is also not true,’ Mente said.
‘There is nothing usual today, many businesses have closed down. There is minimal traffic on the roads. On the roads I travelled on this morning, there are simply no cars, few to no cars in many roads.
‘The police and the soldiers are the ones blocking the roads because they are searching every car, trying to know what is happening. They are successfully blocking the country.’
On Monday morning, Police Minister Bheki Cele said scores of people had been arrested in connection with disturbances linked to the national shutdown.
Earlier, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) had reassured South Africans that their planned shutdown march would be peaceful.
SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told the media that it would not tolerate any form of intimidation including the robbing of citizens and had urged that the protests be peaceful.
Vavi said: ‘Monday is a shutdown and this is the point we must emphasise now, and this is the point that we must emphasise now. If you have an agenda of throwing stones, or petrol bombs, or burning property or damaging infrastructure, you are not one of us.
‘Our demonstration must be peaceful and the communicated message is that we are not the barbarians that they are painting us to be. It has to be a peaceful demonstration.’
The EFF shutdown was aimed at forcing President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign, the end of load shedding, government corruption and other pressing issues in the country.
The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) said most areas in the north of Johannesburg had not experienced any disturbances on the roads as the EFF shutdown took place in other parts of Johannesburg.
On Monday morning, helicopters flew over parts of Johannesburg, monitoring the situation.
- Public Services International (PSI), the global union federation of workers in public services, said it stands in solidarity with public service workers in South Africa.
In a statement, PSI supports public sector workers in South Africa and calls on the government to pay them decent wages and provide good working conditions.
The PSI Statement reads:
‘PSI sends solidarity support to the public service workers of South Africa who have found themselves confronted by the very high cost of living on one side and an intransigent employer on the other. They are really caught up between the proverbial rock and hard place.
‘We recall that this matter that is coming to a head now is an escalation of the negotiation process that started last year in 2022. The start of negotiations took place soon after the constitutional court upheld the South African Government’s decision to walk away from a collective bargaining agreement that they had signed.
‘In an effort to demonstrate workers’ struggles under the prevailing economic conditions where the cost of living had sky-rocketed, public sector trade unions organised a national shut down protest action on the 24th of August 2022. The shutdown was organised to call Government’s attention to living conditions that were already bad, and were only getting worse.
‘Following the collapse of wage negotiations, a National Day of Action was organised on the 22nd of November 2022. Again, this was another practical demonstration that the majority of public service workers were not happy with the 3% increase that the Government has thus far insisted employees accept and wanted to unilaterally implement.
‘Unfortunately, these pleas have fallen on deaf ears as the Government had not improved its offer by taking into consideration factors such as the 2022 increase in the inflation rate.
‘The impasse has continued to this day when workers are considering going on strike, with others already having embarked on the industrial action which has since been interdicted, while tensions continue to simmer with the risk of a full scale, indeterminate and paralysing strike.
‘The economy and the delivery of public services cannot and should not be subjected to yet another shock, especially a government-made one, following the disaster that was the Covid pandemic. This is in addition to the disruptions that are being caused by the power outages.
‘The Government needs a serious rethink on its policies of austerity. Reduced funding and investment in the public services has serious consequences.
‘It should be well noted that Government depends on public sector workers to deliver on its mandate. Public sector workers have the task of implementing all government programmes and services offered by the state. It is self-evident truth that worker morale is a huge factor in the quality of service that they can offer.
‘We believe that good working conditions and decent salaries are key conditions towards high worker morale, which in turn contributes to the good performance. Currently, worker morale in the South African public sector is very low and this does not augur well for the quality and efficiency of public service delivery.
‘Secondly, following the Covid-19 pandemic and the devastating effects it had on public services in general and health delivery systems in particular, health delivery was obviously severely affected. The logical thing would have been to increase funding and investment in public services as a way of not only halting the decline but starting the process of rebuilding and ensuring a well-resourced public sector set up to deliver quality public services.
‘Better salaries and employment conditions are key to reducing the loss of trained professionals from the country to the developed countries of the global north.
‘In its pursuit of these austerity policies, Government has chosen to sacrifice workers. It would appear as if the court victories have now emboldened the Government as litigation seems to be their recourse of choice.
‘While the courts certainly have a role to play in the framework of industrial relations as stipulated by the Constitution, true harmonious industrial relations are attained around the bargaining table. What South Africa doesn’t need now are disruptive and conflictual labour relations.
‘We therefore call on the South African government to return to the negotiation table in good faith, and pay public sector workers living wages and decent working conditions. We call on the government to rebuild and invest in public services to ensure that all people in South Africa can access services such as health, education, utilities, administration, water and sanitation and electricity.
‘And finally, we call on the South African public sector workers not to give up, and to keep fighting against austerity and cuts to the public sector wage bill.’
