Durban - Student Representative Council (SRC) leaders at two KwaZulu-Natal higher learning institutions say they will be urging students to take part in the EFF’s national shutdown on Monday.
EFF leader Julius Malema on Monday called on everyone unemployed, and concerned about load shedding, crime, corruption and gender-based violence, to join the shutdown in protest.
Malema said they would be calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down.
“Stand up, South Africa. Let us go and fight, do not be cowards, the youth of South Africa you have never been known to be cowards,” said Malema.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal EFF Student Command-led SRC in a statement vowed to close all five campuses at the institution. SRC president Wandile Majozi said they believed that all problems that the institution faced were rooted in Ramaphosa’s government.
Majozi said they had experienced load shedding which had turned academic lives upside down, and students were unable to fulfil their academic responsibilities to their fullest potential because blackouts were a hindrance to them.
“During the registration period, students were unable to get assistance because, for at least two hours a day, there would be no electricity which meant that the university staff were not working for two hours.
“The only solution to this problem is for load shedding to end. Load shedding is a man-made crisis that experts have solutions for, the Ramaphosa administration is deliberately ignoring all the solutions that were brought forward by opposition parties and experts in the field.”
Majozi said they were calling on every student to participate.
Durban University of Technology SRC, which is also aligned to the EFF, said the logistics of their participation would be finalised at a full SRC council meeting later this week.
The SRC, which is led by the ANC-aligned Sasco, at the University of Zululand said they would not be joining the march and teaching and learning would continue as normal.
South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, said Saftu would be participating in the national shutdown and would be mobilising their members to join the march.
EThekwini Municipality mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, speaking at the City’s executive committee meeting, said security personnel would be on high alert on Monday.
Kaunda said all municipal services would be available as employees were expected to report for duty, adding that City leadership had been assured by the EFF that the shutdown would be peaceful and there would be no disruptions.
“This City has just emerged from consecutive calamities that battered its economy and that of the country. Under no circumstances will we allow the shutdown of economic activities, no matter the gravity of the grievances. While peaceful protests are allowed, we have a responsibility to protect those who are not part of this shutdown, and it is their right to be protected.
“Anyone undermining the authority of the state shall face the full might of the law and we will not relent in this regard,” he said.