News24.com | We come in peace, says Malema, but anyone who interferes with EFF shutdown will 'meet their maker'

EFF leader Julius Malema. Photo by Gallo Images/Luba Lesolle,

• EFF leader Julius Malema says the party has not issued any threats of violence ahead of its planned national shutdown on Monday.
• He claims that the DA's fears of violence are due to its own plans to hire agent provocateurs to create chaos and disrupt the protest.
• Malema says a starting point for the shutdown hasn't been revealed and he encouraged members and supporters to launch the shutdown at strategic locations.

The EFF comes in peace and has not threatened violence, says party leader Julius Malema who then warned that anyone who attempted to take the EFF's constitutional rights away would "meet their maker". 

At a media briefing on Wednesday, Malema said the party's planned national shutdown on Monday might be the beginning of a revolution. 

The EFF said the purpose of the protest was to address high unemployment, corruption, end load shedding, and demand the immediate resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

Malema urged EFF members and "progressive" South Africans to conduct themselves peacefully at the protest to demonstrate their right to raise their voices and not remain silent in the face of conflict.There is no plan nor designated starting point for the EFF's national shutdown on Monday, said Malema, and encouraged his supporters to gather at strategic spots and launch the protest from there. 

READ | DA drafts intimidation affidavit for businesses threatened by EFF shutdown

He said to avoid police presence upon their arrival, the party would disclose the start of the protest's location only on Monday. 

"Fighters, wherever they are, are just going to gather and protest," he said. 

Malema alleged that the DA approved of the shutdown in the Western Cape, adding that the party hired agent provocateurs to undermine the EFF's peaceful protest.

However, on Tuesday, News24 reported that the City of Cape Town filed an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court to interdict the shutdown. 

Malema said: "The DA knows there is going to be violence because they are going to hire agent provocateurs as they did in apartheid."

He said a permit was not required for a peaceful demonstration. 

READ | EFF shutdown: Business as usual for Santaco taxi drivers as cops lay down the law

On Tuesday, DA leader John Steenhuisen announced the party's six-step action plan to tackle the shutdown, which included going to court to get the EFF to retract intimidation letters it had issued. The DA also filed an urgent application in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to interdict the shutdown. 

In addition, the DA drafted a template affidavit for public use to protect employees and businesses from possible violence during the protest. 

The affidavit referred to Section 205(3) of the Constitution, which details that the police must "respond to crime in a proactive, active and reactive manner by preventing crime, where it is known, before it occurs, combatting crime while it is occurring, and investigating the crime after same was committed".

EFF members have been mobilising supporters in the weeks leading up to the protest.

Malema shared his appreciation for the South African Federation of Trade Unions, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, and the Land Party which will be participating in the shutdown.