According to South African Security Forces, in last 12 hours, 87 people arrested over public violence on Monday. This action took place before planned protests by the EFF (Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters) party
National shutdown has been called by EFF party over power blackouts. They demand the resignation of current South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa.
As per National intelligence body NatJOINTS in a statement, 41 were Gauteng, 29 were in North West province and 15 were in Free State. Arrests has been done in other provinces also such as the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga, NatJOINTS added.
On Sunday, in a statement, parliament said that 3474 soldiers would be deployed by the South African military. The deployment will be till April 17, for a month. It would be for combat and to prevent crime the cooperation with the police.
NatJOINTS said that Law enforcement officers are on high alert and they will continue to be to prevent and combat any activity that involves violence.
South African Authorities 87 People Arrested Ahead of Planned Protest
The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa said on twitter that the rights enshrined in their constitution cannot be taken for granted. He added that too many lives have been lost and too many people have suffered so that they may all be protected by a Bill of Rights that applies to all laws and that is the cornerstone of their democracy.
The country has been experiencing power cutoffs over the years but since September 2022, power cutoffs have been become routine that the South African people had faced more than twice power cutoffs than any other year. In 2024, situation is set to become worst.
President Cyril Ramaphosa had declared State of Disaster in February 2024. On 8th March, President had appointed a special Minister of Electricity to tackle the country’s worsening energy crisis. President said in a statement that the Minister will be expected to facilitate the coordination of various departments and entities involved in the crisis response. He added that he will be work with the Eskom (State Energy Firm, blamed for power crisis) leadership to turn around the performance of existing power stations, and accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity. This shows how critical the issue is.
Earlier today, Julius Sello Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) thanked the people of South Africa and member of his party, EFF for peaceful yet vibrant national shutdown, in a tweet. He also said that it is just the beginning and encourage people to go out and join the picket lines, in a tweet. He added that the national shutdown will end at 12 midnights.
With inputs from various news agencies.
