Download PDFThe Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) urged South Africans to take to the streets on 20 March 2023 in protest unemployment, government corruption, electricity crisis and to also demand President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down as head of the state.
Although protests began midnight on Monday, most districts remained calm, and it was business as usual. Meanwhile in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg, many local shops did not open at the usual time of 05:00 AM every morning. They only started operating at around 09:00 AM after realisation that the #Nationalshutdown did not pose a serious threat to their businesses. Perhaps as a precaution, store operators sold through closed burglar-security doors not allowing walk-ins as is normal to do. Street vendors continued to operate as usual. The taxis also continued to operate as normal but the ranks resembled ghost towns since there were only were fewer people commuting to work on the day than most other days.
According to Van Boy*, he, EFF members from the area, and a few other community members from Dindela section of Vosloorus gathered in the streets by 01:00 o’clock in the morning on 20 March, and started burning tyres. They targeted the busy roads in the Ekurhuleni township including Roets Drive and Khoza Road to support the shutdown to fight against the problems facing the country.
“[The] EFF are not the only ones being affected by these issues. Despite your alliance, we’re all suffering due to these problems. That’s why I joined the protest,” he said. He was disappointed and also urging other African nationals that own local shops to join such protests in the future by closing their businesses.
“Shop owners need to join these protests because we’re all Africans in Africa, and we’re all affected by these problems. That’s why most problems won’t be fixed if they keep betraying the struggle,” added Van Boy.
The protest in Dindela Section fizzled out early around 05:00 AM when the protesters could not gather enough numbers to support the action. Things went back to normal. Besides the protest in Dindela Section, there were no reports of looting, injuries, or any other kind of disruptions around Vosloorus.
*Real name known to Karibu!
This article was submitted on 21 March 2023. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
