Here are 3 things to know about the national shutdown in South Africa

By Hans Ngala

CAPE TOWN – One of South Africa’s opposition parties, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) led by Julius Malema announced a national shutdown of all economic activities in Africa’s most industrialized nation for a number of reasons.

Here are the three main reasons why the EFF wants a national shutdown in Nelson Mandela’s country:

They want President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign

Some reasons for the strike are increasing inflation, recent corruption scandals involving the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and rising levels of insecurity. The EFF has received the support of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), the United Democratic Movement (UDM), and the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu). The party has called on businesses, public service worker’s unions, public transport unions, teachers, and students to observe a nationwide stay-away from work. Businesses that would not close have reportedly been threatened with violence. A march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria was planned for March 20 to demand the president’s resignation.

Continued power cuts (called ‘loadshedding’) are a core issue

One of the main reasons for the nationwide shutdown which the EFF wants is to protest against the regular power cuts in South Africa, lasting for hours each day. The national power utility company of the country, known as Eskom is blamed for not doing enough to regularize power supply and dilapidated power grids from the 1970s and 1980s can no longer keep up with the country’s power demand, leading Eskom to ration electricity by shedding the load from parts of the country to serve others – hence the term, load shedding. The power cuts have adversely affected businesses and the overall economy of South Africa.

They want the government to address the high unemployment rates

According to Statistics South Africa, South Africa’s unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2022 stood at 32.7% , down from 32.9% in the previous quarter. The EFF wants more jobs for ordinary South Africans. Malema whose party is quite popular among young, unemployed Black South Africans, has promised to redistribute land (70% of which remains in White owners’ hands since the end of Apartheid). He has also promised that should his party take office, they will privatize a lot of public companies such as Eskom and redistribute land without compensation, which the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has refused to address.