Opinion: Zukile Majova
President Cyril Ramaphosa is fast losing his grip on power and he knows it.
The deployment of the army into South Africa’s townships even before the first stone has been thrown exposes his insecurity.
His ANC has suffered huge losses at the polls and continues to lose by-elections across the country on a weekly basis.
Deploying 3,474 soldiers even before getting an assessment of the state of the planned protest from the police is no different from the actions of the old apartheid state.
Last week the state deployed the army as unarmed nurses and other public servants picketed for a wage increase.
Retired military General Bantu Holomisa said the ease with which the state now deploys the army was concerning.
“The day the soldiers realise that they are being used to protect the corrupt ANC regime against the struggling citizens they will feel ashamed.”
Holomisa told Newzroom Afrika there was no indication that the EFF supporters would be carrying guns in their demand for electricity.
Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise said some 73,000 soldiers were on standby.
Still haunted by the July unrest that led to over 300 people losing their lives, Ramaphosa took a decision not to wait for the so-called shutdown to become unruly.
His next dilemma: should the state’s forces shoot the unarmed youth if the protest gets out of control?
Young people – Millennials and Generation Z – form 80% of the 1.2 million members of the EFF.
It’s already a politically charged setup, with EFF leader Julius Malema telling his troops not to be intimidated or fear the state.
Ramaphosa is still seen by many as having had a hand in the escalation of the wage negotiation standoff at Lonmin in 2012.
Police opened fire at a crowd of protesting mineworkers, killing 34 and leaving 80 others injured.
Ramaphosa’s ANC and its government now find themselves in virgin territory, facing a complete rejection by young people born after 1994, the born-frees.
Stats SA says there are over 20 million young people up to age 29. About eight million of them are registered to vote in the coming elections.
Millions more have been staying away from the polls out of unhappiness with the ANC tolerance of corruption, unemployment and poor service delivery.
Malema is hoping to appeal to this group to propel the EFF to become the official opposition after next year’s elections.
To a large extent, the national shutdown is a public display of the power of the EFF and a massive publicity stunt for the party.
Whether the stunt succeeds or not, the party has already made its point: it is the only party in the country that can go head-to-head with the ANC and give it a bloody nose.
Pictured above: President Cyril Ramaphosa
