{"id":288846,"date":"2018-12-03T13:30:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T11:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=288846"},"modified":"2018-12-03T13:30:27","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T11:30:27","slug":"vodacom-shuts-vandalised-stores-after-women-assaulted-and-goods-stolen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/288846\/vodacom-shuts-vandalised-stores-after-women-assaulted-and-goods-stolen\/","title":{"rendered":"Vodacom shuts vandalised stores after women assaulted and goods stolen"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Vodacom is keeping some of its South African franchise stores shut after members of opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters allegedly vandalised outlets in protest of an image of their leaders at an event hosted by the wireless carrier.<\/p>\n<p>In one incident, at its Mall of Africa franchise store in Johannesburg, women were assaulted and goods stolen, the company said in an email.<\/p>\n<p>The EFF may have been responding to an image used by Corruption Watch Chairman Mavuso Msimang, Vodacom said, in which he depicted an image of the party\u2019s leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu, as \u201cabusers of democracy\u201d during a keynote address at an awards ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVodacom respects the right of every South African to freedom of expression and to hold legal and peaceful protests, but condemns any form of violent behaviour,\u201d the mobile-phone operator said in emailed comments on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVodacom is against discrimination and bigotry in all their manifestations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Images on Twitter showed people dressed in the EFF\u2019s signature red berets and clothing entering stores or the damage caused in the aftermath of their leaving. The EFF is known for being involved in scuffles in parliament with the ruling African National Congress and other opposition parties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere has been no official mandate, request or statement from the EFF to go to Vodacom shops and protest,\u201d said Jossey Buthane, EFF Secretary in the Limpopo province.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is being done independently by unhappy South Africans. We do understand that the Vodacom stores are owned by individual franchisees, and would therefore look for alternative recourse in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/287998\/vodacom-boosts-network-in-preparation-for-festive-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vodacom boosts network in preparation for festive season<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vodacom is keeping some of its South African franchise stores shut after members of opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters allegedly vandalised outlets in protest of an image of their leaders at an event hosted by the wireless carrier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":288848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[26,27],"class_list":["post-288846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-headline","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288846"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288852,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288846\/revisions\/288852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}