Let me start by making it clear that I am not an EFF supporter, I have always found its leadership wanting in Revolutionary values and ethics. Is this shutdown a political points scoring exercise on the part of the EFF of course it is, and why shouldn't it be. Is the timing opportunistic to take advantage of the public holiday and the potential long weekend? of course it is.
The bigger questions that need to be answered are, is the demands of the EFF justified, of course it is.
Does Cyril Ramaphosa need to step down or be forced to step down for his utter failure to address the most pressing crises of our country? of course he has to. Did he fail in how he dealt with the COVID 19 pandemic? yes he did fail, look at the Department of Health and the PPE corruption, look at the railway and other infrastructure that was destroyed, look at insane regulations and violations of basic rights, look at the severe damage to business and the economy due to his indecisive leadership.
Are we better off or worse off under Ramaphosa than we were under Zuma, the answer is yes we are, crime has escalated, unemployment has escalated, corruption has actually increased, infrastructure has deteriorated, inflation and interest rates has escalated.
Is it all his fault? Of course not, but could he have made a difference? of course he could have, by putting the interest of the country before the interest of his party and it's cronies.
Does Cyril have a case to answer regarding PhalaPhala of course he does, and he should be held accountable. Has he violated his oath of office, yes he has and he has been doing it all along even insofar as having the CR17 campaign funding that bought him the presidency, Inquiry sealed, as President of the country he refused to give account on who he remains beholden to, who financed his ascendance to the presidency.
Does Cyril have a case to answer for his role in the Marikana massacre, of course he does, he was a Director of Lonmin and ordered the then Minister of Police to fix the problem, the problem being Rockdrillers demanding a decent wage from the London based conglomerate that Cyril was a shareholder of.
As working class citizens of South Africa are we satisfied with loadshedding? are we satisfied with the increasing inflation?, are we satisfied with continued job losses? are we satisfied with the crumbling infrastructure?, are we satisfied with rampant crime and corruption?, the violence, the deteriorating public health sector, are we satisfied with the mass looting of the State Owned Enterprises? Of course we're not.
The big question is if we are so dissatisfied why are we all so silent, so complacent, so easily pacified by a captured media and a captured narrative that has etched into our collective psychic the rationale that if not Cyril then who?
This darling blue eyed boy of the neo-colonialist has the state paralysed yet he remains the favourite of the elites, big business and most of the upper middle class, because the alternative, the likes of Malema is too ghastly to contemplate. Malema has become nothing but a scarecrow that justifies Cyril's continued incumbency.
The entire right wing DA/ANC Caucus has joined the "protest equals violence" choir, with the call for firm action against those who dare to raise a voice against the status quo being echoed in some of the most progressive chambers of civil society.
Where are all these voices when the structural violence of hunger, poverty, homelessnes and austerity is inflicted on the poor, where are these voices when the violence of unemployment and hopelessness decimates our youth and their dreams of decent jobs and lives. Where is this chorus that screams no to violence when the domestic environment is filled with violence against partners and children by perpetrators who are scarred by wounds of violence imposed on them by a system that has dehumanised them.
We emphasize the right to protest peacefully is an enshrined constitutional right that is being undermined by a state that is becoming overly securatised with rhetoric that seems to prepare South Africans that no dissent will be tolerated despite all our legitimate grievances. Our fear is that the same Director of Lonmin who had a decisive role in the brutal death of protesting miners is now in charge of a the brutal power of a security apparatus that could once again be unleashed for nothing other than political expediency to protect a very violent state against those who have every right to be frustrated and angry.
History has taught us South Africans that violence against the people by a repressive securitized state and it's proxies the security industry and now also coopted community structures is far more brutal than the symbolic burning of tyres and rubble. Ask the survivors of Sharpeville and Marikana what real state sponsored violence looks like.
This article is written in my personal capacity as a concerned and frustrated citizen who is witnessing the increasing use of propaganda to villify, undermine and camouflage the violence inflicted by a failed state against those who dare to speak out.
We will not be coerced into silence and complacency by a state that selectively unleashes it's power structures against political opponents at the expense of listening to legitimate demands.
©️ Imraahn Mukaddam.