The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has vowed to shut down the country on 20 March 2023 to demand an end to load shedding and the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Party leader Julius Malema said the EFF won’t apply for permission to march on the day.
He said the party will rope in taxi drivers and make sure there is no truck, bus or train that will move on the day of the shutdown.
There will be no learning at schools lecturers and all major roads will be closed except for emergency services.
“We won’t apply for nothing. We won’t apply for what is given to us by the constitution. It is our constitutional right to protest and we will protest on 20 March.
“Just like Sharpville march, we are not scared of state power, you bring state power, we’ll give you the power of masses,” he told reporters on Sunday following the party’s plenum held in Ekurhuleni.
“No one will intimidate us. South Africa will come to a standstill. If Ramaphosa doesn’t resign on the day, we’ll announce after that, we don’t pre-empt anything. Why would you want to be president when dollars were found under your mattress?
“No single train will move on national shutdown on March 20. We don’t want to see a single train, bus or truck. From Musina to Cape Town, nothing will move except emergency services, police and doctors,” said the firebrand leader.
He added that trucks transporting minerals to Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal will stand a standstill on the day. The route has been marred by disruptions for months caused by local truck drivers and communities.
“The trains and trucks, more particularly those that go to Richards Bay taking our minerals out of our country – on the 20th March, if you know what is good for you – park your trucks in your depots.”
Calling it the “mother of all shutdowns” Malema said South Africans will be free of the President and his party the African National Congress (ANC) after the stay away.
According to Malema, “freedom is coming” after 20 March.
“We are going to switch on the lights because we are going to remove the man who switches off the light. Our freedom was stolen by Ramaphosa and the ANC and it shall be returned to South Africans on March 20 2023. It is the beginning of bringing down ANC and Ramaphosa.
“Whether Ramaphosa likes it or not, he is a mess for this country. It’s not me but a judge who said he has a case to answer for having undeclared dollars at his farm.
“Zuma’s unrest will look like a mickey mouse. We are unstoppable, South Africa has been waiting for too long, and we are mobilising every corner of our country.
“All wards, regions and provinces talk to communities, taxi associations, traditional leaders, shopowners and all progressive South Africans to come and join the mother of all shutdowns,” said Malema.
At the main march in Gauteng, the party plans to hand over a memorandum of demands at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on the day.
