#SONA2016 protests off to slow start

#ZumaMustFall movement was due to set off from Greenmarket Square at noon but by 1pm there were very few people. Picture: IOL

#ZumaMustFall movement was due to set off from Greenmarket Square at noon but by 1pm there were very few people. Picture: IOL

Published Feb 11, 2016

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Cape Town - Scores of police were out early patrolling the streets around Parliament on Thursday ahead of President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday night.

Planned demonstrations got off to a slow start in Cape Town on Thursday morning with the DA cancelling its march and an “anti-racism” march by the Ses’Khona People Right’s Movement running late because of transport problems.

Protests were also set for Durban, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth through the day.

SAPS deputy national commissioner of human resource management Lieutenant-General Bonang Mgwenya told Parliament’s police committee on Wednesday that police were “ready for those who break the law”.

#SONA2016: A nation waits

On Thursday morning Plein Street was blocked off and there was a huge police presence in the streets around Parliament. Police manned intersections and redirected traffic.

The DA protest, due to start at 9am in Mill Street, was called off at the last minute. DA spokeswoman Liza Albrecht said they had heard Ses’Khona People Right’s Movement members were no longer marching to the DA offices to protest against the party.

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Some Right 2 Know campaign members gathered next to the N2 early in the morning with placards.

However, Ses’Khona spokesman Sithembele Majova said the planned “anti-racism march” to the DA offices was still on but running late because of transport problems. Members would then move on to Parliament.

“We want the National Assembly to criminalise racism, they must take a stand, but we won’t be disrupting SONA. We are not involved in such protests,” he said.

#SONA2016: Will Zuma do the right thing?

The march was due to start from Keizersgracht Street at 10am but had still not started at the time of going to press. The #ZumaMustFall movement was due to set off from Greenmarket Square at lunch time to the Grand Parade and organisers believed thousands of protesters would turn up. But by 1pm there were very few people.

Protestors chanting #ZumaMustFall as the March to the Grand Parade in Cape Town pic.twitter.com/ulPPPtGAym

— MojoIOL (@mojoIOL) February 11, 2016

All three groups were granted permission by the City of Cape Town to demonstrate.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have promised interruptions during Zuma’s address.

EFF leader Julius Malema said his party wanted answers from the president regarding the December axing of Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister.

The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) have threatened to fight back.

Read: The 5 #SONA2016 personalities to watch

Meanwhile, Judith February of the Institute for Security Studies said Zuma needed to speak clearly about issues of race and inequality with a bold vision of economic equality; the Constitution which is for all the people; the securitisation of the state; a dysfunctional local government; and the ongoing drought plaguing the country.

“Given the lack of understanding about the role and the place of the Constitution, we have to ask how we can promote constitutional education in our schools and among ordinary citizens? ...

“The president could lead on this too in his SONA speech, though sadly, he himself has an ambivalent relationship with the Constitution,” she added.

Cape Argus

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