#ZumaMustFall protest review
As #ZumaMustFall protesters took to the streets across South Africa on Wednesday, about 1,500 people marched across the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg to show that they had lost faith in President Jacob Zuma’s ability to lead South Africa.
Cries of “Zuma must fall” and “Zuma must go now” rang out across the bridge.
One of the marchers, dressed in ANC colours, said he supported the ANC and always had, but if Zuma did not step down as president, he would start supporting the Economic Freedom Fighters.
“We have given Zuma more than the benefit of the doubt, but he keeps messing up and should start standing up and accept accountability for his actions,” Ismail Lavangee told News24.
Former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi also made an appearance at the Johannesburg protest.
He said people were “gatvol” [fed up] with corruption and called on Zuma to “step aside” in order to save the country.
‘Corrupt hyenas’
“We have chosen this Day of Reconciliation to make a statement to other South Africans, the people of the world and the corrupt hyenas that are ripping our society apart,” he said to applause from the crowd.
“Zuma, you have failed the poor. You have failed the working class. You have failed the South Africans who have the brains to think independently,” he said.
Another protester said: “We are faced with oppression in all society classes of South Africa. The love for money is evil and has consumed some of our leaders.”
Of course, the issue of e-tolling was never far from people’s minds. “If the ANC says that Jacob Zuma listens to the people, why do we still have e-tolls?” one asked.
A powerful rendition of the National Anthem was also sung.
Some black protesters remarked that they were hoping for a bigger turnout from black South Africans.
Cape Town march
The #ZumaMustFall march in Cape Town addressed the pithy topic of white privilege as a form of corruption, march organisers Unite Against Corruption said on Wednesday.
The message was “well received” by the “mostly white crowd of about 10 000 people”, it said in a statement.
“Speakers told protesters that it was their right to protest corruption in government and that the President should take responsibility for the high levels of graft, but that all South Africans should take responsibility to root out corruption, including their own,” it read.
Unite Against Corruption is a broad coalition of more than 300 civil society groups representing unions, as well as religious and NGO sectors.
The theme of the protest was “No Reconciliation with Corruption”, but it also embraced the #ZumaMustFall hashtag.
Organiser Miles Giljam said he was excited to see so many people having the courage to speak out and hold the president accountable for corruption in government.
“All South Africans have the right to protest when they feel things in the nation are going awry. It was hugely significant that so many people, who are not normally politically active, made the effort to be heard.
“But I was also very happy that the crowd responded well when challenged to tackle their own privilege and complicity in corruption.
“The right to protest comes with the responsibility to work towards solutions. It also means that we can’t just be angry about issues that face us personally, but also fight for justice on the broader causes of systemic poverty in the nation,” he said.
Craig Stewart, CEO of Cape Town based NGO The Warehouse Trust, told the crowd that the spirit of apartheid had proved to be much harder to put to death than the laws of apartheid.
“We cannot be naïve and fooled into thinking or acting as if President Zuma is the catalyst for all our economic crises in South Africa. He is not.
“We, especially those in this crowd who are white, must not and cannot ignore the fact that our economy’s foundations are the maintenance of white domination and of black oppression and pain. The structures and systems built by apartheid and colonialism remain and it is their role that must fall.”
Stewart encouraged white protesters to be active citizens, not because corruption threatened their livelihoods, but “because we are tired of living lives where our comfort comes at the expense of black people”.
News24
Poor attendance
The ANC on Wednesday claimed the poor attendance at the #ZumaMustFall marches was an affirmation that President Jacob Zuma’s decision to appoint Pravin Gordhan as minister of finance was generally accepted by South Africans.
“What is notable in these marches is that they are organised by a few groups of people who seem not to be interested about fiscal policies of the country,” spokesperson Zizi Kodwa told News24.
“They’ve got other interests, such as regime change, and they harbour racist hatred.”
Kodwa said the ANC had noted that there was an old South African flag at one of the marches, which was a reflection of what the marches were about.
Thousands of protesters marched in various cities, including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and George.
Zuma faced a backlash after he announced last week that he was replacing Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with ANC MP Des van Rooyen.
There was a public outcry and calls for Zuma to be recalled over the move, which saw the rand reach record lows. Four days after the announcement Zuma backtracked, replacing Van Rooyen with Gordhan as finance minister, which saw the rand recover somewhat.
Kodwa said those who marched on Wednesday were pretending to be fighting for democracy, yet they could not co-exist in a democratic, non-racial South Africa.
“It’s not genuine and it’s hypocritical, given the call and the people who are behind these marches.”
The ANC welcomed the fact that many people had not attended what it called the “racist agenda” of #ZumaMustFall.
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