South Africa’s leftwing opposition launched rallies under heavy security on Monday in a bid to force out President Cyril Ramaphosa over his handling of the country’s sickly economy and crippling energy crisis.
Around 5,000 protesters gathered at a square in the capital Pretoria as police and troops deployed nearby at the seat of government, the Union Buildings.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the country’s third-largest party, called for a “national shutdown” of walkouts and protests, sparking fears of a repeat of the unrest that turned deadly just under two years ago.
“Our people stay in shacks, our people don’t have water, our people don’t have electricity, 30 years into democracy,” the EFF’s firebrand leader, Julius Malema, told the rally.
“You don’t have weapons, you only have your bodies — go and put them on the picket lines and tell all those dictators in Africa that their days are numbered,” he said, speaking from the back of a pickup truck.
Thousands of people gathered in other parts of the country, according to footage on local media.
Eighty-seven protesters were arrested for violence-related offences overnight, according to the police, which gave no details of the offences.
After Malema’s address, the crowd left the square, whistling and chanting slogans under police escort, and gesturing to onlookers in high-rise apartments to join them as a police helicopter flew overhead.
High security
The authorities said they were on high alert to maintain security, with nearly 3,500 troops available to assist police.
“We hope that those that will be marching, as long as they will be doing so peacefully, we have no reason to interfere with them,” Police Minister Bheki Cele told reporters in Johannesburg.
“Police will have to be tough without really being brutal,” he said, adding that private security companies were also helping police.
The protest call rekindled memories of clashes in July 2021 that saw the worst violence since the end of apartheid and the advent of democracy in 1994.
At least 350 people were killed when protests sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma spiralled into riots and looting.
Ramaphosa ordered law enforcement agencies to prevent any repeat of the unrest and warned against coercion.
People have the freedom to demonstrate, but “no-one should be forced, threatened or intimidated into joining that protest,” Ramaphosa said on Monday in his weekly newsletter.
The EFF has told protesters their actions “must be militant and radical” but to behave peacefully and watch out for provocateurs. It accuses the authorities of risking excessive force and intimidation by deploying the army.
Troubled country
The party is demanding Ramaphosa quit over his handling of the economy, chronic electricity shortages and high unemployment.
The 70-year-old president has hit back, accusing the EFF of instrumentalising South Africa’s problems to gain traction ahead of general elections next year.
In Pretoria, EFF member Gift Boquopane, 42, joined the protest with his wife and children.
He carried a sign reading “Down with load-shedding,” a reference to the deeply unpopular outages.
The power shortages have deeply amplified resentment in a country battered by stratospheric unemployment and soaring inflation. In the last three months of 2022, economic growth tumbled below pre-pandemic levels.
“The damage that the Ramaphosa government is causing is so terrible that we cannot tolerate it any longer. They must go now,” Carl Niehaus, a former official of the ruling ANC joined the mainly EFF supporters for the rally.
