![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/EFF.jpg?resize=201%2C251&ssl=1\")
Photo Credit: Twitter<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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”.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n