By Ebi Kesiena
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has rejected the deployment the army across the country ahead of the party’s planned nationwide shutdown tomorrow.
This comes after the government announced that more than 3 400 members of the South African Defence Force have been deployed in South Africa to support the police in securing law and order in the next month in South Africa.
The EFF has slammed this move by the government, saying it demonstrated that the government was intolerant to dissent.
The EFF along with the support of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), among others, is expected to embark on national protest action calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign.
The party says the deployment of the army ahead of the much-anticipated nationwide protest was unconstitutional, calling it an apartheid tactic.
The party’s protest is also against the rolling blackouts.
“South has degenerated into a military state, and the deployment of the army to suppress the constitutional right to protest, means we have returned to the dark days of apartheid. The current deployment of the army and law enforcement agencies, has surpassed that of the apartheid regime in the 80s during the State of Emergency, meaning that Ramaphosa has declared war on the people of South Africa,” says the EFF.
The EFF in the Free State says no amount of intimidation will deter their planned shutdown. They have alleged that the police paid their leaders unofficial visits.
The EFF has slammed this in the statement.
“The scenes of military personnel descending into the townships of South Africa, policemen searching the homes and cars of citizens without warrants or just cause, and shutting down tyre shops reveal a paranoid government that is capable of grave human rights violations.”
However, Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says the deployment of heavy police forces and the South African National Defence Force is an attempt to ensure that South Africans are protected during the nationwide shutdown tomorrow.
