WHILE THE EFF warned it would keep Clicks stores closed until Friday, the retailer said it had decided to close all branches on Wednesday to engage with staff, and then hoped to reopen.
In a statement, Clicks said: “…our stores will be closed. We will be engaging directly with all our staff across the country to provide counselling and support. We are sorry for the inconvenience.” The stores plan to reopen on Thursday.
The closure of hundreds of stores in the pharmaceutical, health and beauty chain for a second consecutive day followed an outcry over the publication of a controversial advert for hair product TRESemmé.
Members of the EFF were dispatched to the stores as part of a national protest against the advert in which black women’s hair was described as “dry and damaged” while white women’s hair was represented as “flat and fine”.
EFF regional chairperson Moafrika Mabogwana said the reports they had received from members dispatched to all Clicks stores in Tshwane was that most of the branches were closed.
“We found that in certain instances like in Centurion after the fighters left, the store reopened for business, but we have attended to that and can confidently say all of their stores in Tshwane are closed now.
“We will keep it like this until Friday. We are not over-reacting to this issue; we simply can’t keep letting companies undermine black people, and the practical way to do this is to make them feel the consequences by making sure they lose profit.”
Mabogwana said the protest was peaceful, and they were happy to have police presence as some protesters had been accosted by members of a private security company armed with guns upon their arrival at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre on Monday when the Tshwane protests started.
Protest action was reported at 425 Clicks stores countrywide on Monday and Tuesday. Acting Judge Norman Manoim interdicted the EFF from inciting violence and intimidating Clicks customers and staff.
At last count, more than 300 stores in Gauteng were among those closed.
Clicks had announced it had accepted the resignation of a senior executive responsible for the offensive advert while other employees implicated in the matter were suspended pending the outcome of an independent investigation by an outside company.
Clicks also said it had delisted the TRESemmé products from its stores and removed related products from the shelves, to be replaced by local brands.
While TRESemmé has apologised for offence, Unilever, which distributes the product, has not commented on the advert which is not Clicks advert, but one from TRESemmé.
In Gauteng, police said they arrested five people for an attack on the Clicks store at the Lemon Tree shopping centre in Alberton on Monday morning. Police were also investigating a case of malicious damage to property following the storming of the Clicks store in Bryanston.
Meanwhile, the government has said while it was disturbed by the crude racist display by the advertisement in question, acts of lawlessness, including vandalism and burning down stores were of concern.
This concern has been shared by other opposition parties which, while they do not condone the advert, do not agree with the EFF’s response which is seen as opportunistic. The DA has laid a criminal complaint against the EFF for inciting public violence, malicious damage to property, and intimidation.