Cele said Malema vowed that the planned shutdown would be peaceful, but a few incidents of violence have already been reported to the police.
SAPS outside the Union Buildings on the day of the EFF’s national shutdown, 20 March 2023. Picture: Jacques Nelles / Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG – Police Minister Bheki Cele on Monday confirmed that 87 people around South Africa were arrested in connection with the national shutdown.
Cele was speaking at a briefing in Johannesburg on Monday.
He said that Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader had said that the planned shutdown would be peaceful, but a few incidents of violence have already been reported to the police.
The red berets want President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down as the first citizen. The party’s march is also against frequent power and the high unemployment rate in the country – among others.
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Cele said that Gauteng recorded the most arrests so far, with the Free State following close behind, and the Eastern Cape recording the third-highest number of arrests.
The police minister said the protests have so far not been peaceful.
“From this we will go take them and charge them, but they were not peaceful. You interfere with people who go to work, you burn the tyres you block the road, you tell the people not to go – you even tramp on the roof of their cars.”
