DURBAN - EFF provincial chairperson Vusi Khoza said KwaZulu-Natal could expect a peaceful march on Thursday in the Phoenix area and dispelled rumours of violence that were circulating on social media.
Khoza said that no one would be armed.
“As the EFF we have always had peaceful marches. As with all our marches, this one too will be peaceful,” he said.
On its Twitter page the party posted: “EFF in eThekwini region will march to Phoenix on Thursday, August 5, 2021, in protest against the racial killings of black people during the #PhoenixMassacre.
“We call for the immediate arrest of all those racist murderers and the confiscation of all illegal firearms in Phoenix.”
The rumours about violence prompted DA leader John Steenhuisen to pen a letter to the chairperson of the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), asking him to intervene in the escalating race-baiting and racial scapegoating in KZN in the wake of the unrest and looting.
“What is evident from the material designed to promote what the EFF calls their ‘March to Phoenix Against Racist Indians’ is that they are hoping to stir up racial tensions and inflame violence between black and Indian residents,” Steenhuisen said.
He clarified that it was imperative for the EFF march to be stopped before it turned into a full-blown race war.
“I believe it is within the SAHRC’s mandate to step in and stop this march. And if they feel they do not have the power to do so by themselves they must seek an urgent interdict from the court.”
The chairperson of citizens’ rights group Real Democracy, Srini Naidoo, wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting an urgent intervention to stop the march.
Naidoo said that as much as they were in favour of exercising one’s right to protest, they found the timing, the attitude and the motives for the scheduled march to be questionable.
“In the interest of peace, goodwill and reconciliation, we plead with the authorities to reconsider allowing this march to go ahead.
“To allow this march to proceed would be the height of irresponsibility and those responsible must be held to account when the dust settles.”
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Tyrone Seale, could not be drawn to comment.
He said marches were authorised by various bodies, and not the president.
Daily News