The 2023 South African National Shutdown was a protest held by the political party

Economic Freedom Fighters The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African communist and black nationalist political party. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema, and his allies, on 26 July 20 ...

on 20 March 2023, the day before

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. The EFF called for the resignation of President

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

and an end to load-shedding. The leader of the EFF,

Julius Malema Julius Sello Malema (born 3 March 1981) is a South African politician. He is the founder and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a communist political party known for the red berets and military-style outfits worn by its members. Be ...

, warned businesses countrywide to close their doors or risk being looted by them. The ''

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'' speculated that the shutdown was a "dry-run" for the EFF's campaigning abilities in preparation for the 2024 general elections. Polling by the Social Research Foundation that had been carried right before the shutdown reportedly found that electoral support for the EFF had strongly declined, from 12% in July 2022 to 6% in March 2023.

Run up to the shutdown

In addition to the EFF, the

South African Federation of Trade Unions The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) is a trade union federation in South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of Sout ...

(SAFTU), the Land Party, and Carl Niehaus's newly formed African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance (Areta) participated in support of the shutdown.

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companies such as Santaco refused to support the shutdown stating that they did not want the economy to be further damaged. The Democratic Alliance (DA) sought court interdicts against the shutdown in both the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces. The first interdict barring the shutdown organisers from forcibly closing businesses and roads and the second interdict declaring the shutdown protest unlawful. The court granted the DA's first interdict and denied the second interdict. The

South African Police Service The South African Police Service (SAPS) is the national police force of the Republic of South Africa. Its 1,154 police stations in South Africa are divided according to the Provinces of South Africa, provincial borders, and a Provincial Commis ...

stated that there would be no forcibly imposed national shutdown and that they had put measures in place to assure people's safety. Over 24,000 car tires were confiscated across the country by the authorities in the hours leading up to the shutdown. The authorities stated that the tires were placed in strategic locations with the likely intent to create road blocks and set alight on the day of the shutdown. The confiscations were allegedly assisted by EFF activists posting pictures of themselves next to piles of tires on social media, which Malema had asked them not to do.

Impact

On the day of the shutdown significant protest action and violence was reported in the EFF strong holds of

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

and

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

provinces where EFF critic Nhlanhla Lux's home was allegedly bombed and national bus operator Putco ceased some of its operations because of reports of intimidation. The situation was described as largely "quiet" in the provinces of

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

and the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

, but two roads were reportedly closed by the burning of tires in the

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area in the

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. An estimated 150,000 people were reported to have attended the shutdown across the country.

Response and reactions

Assessment

Malema described the event as “the most successful shutdown in the history of South Africa”. Despite his earlier statement, Malema blamed the cancellation of chartered busses for protesters as a reason for the lower-than-expected turnout for the shutdown. Malema also alleged that an unnecessarily strong presence by the police and army and an unexpected lack of loadsheading also negatively impacted turnout for the protests. The media reported that turnout for the shutdown was lower than expected, was in fact very small,Malema’s day of humiliation – South Africa must return to mass democratic politics
Imraan Buccus, ''Daily Maverick'', 20 March 2023 and was likely a failure for the EFF, possibly damaging the party's image in the run-up to the national elections.

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stated that the shutdown was a failure for the EFF. The

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) thanked South Africans for not responding to the EFF's appeal to join the shutdown, and the DA also described the event as unsuccessful for the EFF and claimed that a court interdict that it had secured against intimidation during the shut down played an important role in reducing its impact.

Incidents of fake news

Julius Malema claimed that the shutdown helped reduce load shedding. However, the national power utility

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. Eskom was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) (). Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool. The utility is the larg ...

announced ahead of the protest a reduction of load shedding due to a decrease in demand. In fact, 20 March was designated a special school holiday by the

Department of Basic Education The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is one of the departments of the South African government. It oversees primary and secondary education in South Africa. It was created in 2009 after the election of President Jacob Zuma, when the forme ...

in 2022. Former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter previously declared in January 2023 that there would be a load shedding relief by end of March. Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa also denied any involvement of EFF with load-shedding suspension. Social media posts have wrongfully shared footage from a previous protest, specifically the EFF march to Eskom in February 2020, claiming it was from the national shutdown.

References