Hannah Omarjee | homarjee@radioislam.co.za
08:03:2023 | 17:30 PM CAT
3 min read

Photo Credit: Twitter

The EFF is planning a national shutdown on the 20th of March 2023. Its leader, Julius Malema, says the event focuses on removing President Cyril Ramaphosa from office.

The EFF in Gauteng released a statement on Sunday, formatted to look like a company memo, stating that “all schools, retail stores, businesses and public roads will be shut down”.

Wits School of Governance, Professor Alex van den Heever says that the EFF cannot ensure a national shutdown. According to Van der Heever, the ploy by Malema, who is attempting to side with a faction of the ANC opposed to President Ramaphosa, and a move for Malema to look big in the public eye in light of next year’s elections. He added that it is improbable that any mass shutdown will occur; however, the EFF will try its best to portray it as such in specific areas where it has the most support.

Very few organisations in South Africa can call for a shutdown, and with minimal support, initiating a national shutdown will be difficult for them. Van der Heever says, “To actually orchestrate the shutdown is quite a difficult thing, and it impacts on a lot of people’s livelihoods and lives. Not everybody buys into it, as a consequence and not for the reasons that it’s called for. So I think many people will look to their own pockets, their livelihoods and what really interests them and make their decisions.”

The EFFs’ approach to the ANC is unique. On the one hand, they are attempting to orchestrate a national shutdown to have the President of the ANC removed from office; on the other hand, they are forming coalitions with the ANC in Gauteng and Tshwane.

Van der Heever chalks this up to the many factions within the ANC; some oppose the President. The EFF appears to have joined with one of these factions. Their strategy is to remove any obstacles to an EFF-ANC coalition, which would result in them gaining power in many places, including the national government in 2024, if both the ANC and the EFF receive a sufficient portion of the votes.

Van der Heever believes politics in South Africa is going through a difficult period in which we are not seeing political competition on policy but rather political competition for control of the state and patronage, which threatens to undermine South Africa’s democracy.

Listen to the full interview here.