Sakhile Ndlazi and Ntando Makhubu
SEVERAL Clicks stores across South Africa were damaged during yesterday’s EFF protest against a racist Clicks advert for a hair product which has caused an uproar since the weekend.
Members of the party were dispersed to some of the chain’s 700 stores as part of a backlash about an advert for TreSemmé products in which black women’s hair was described as “dry and damaged” while white women’s hair was represented as flat and fine.
While some of the protests turned violent, the protest at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre in the capital city was peaceful. The “fighters” arrived from 6am and waited at the Clicks entrance to ensure no one could enter the store.
This led to some shops nearby closing too. At other malls in the suburbs of Pretoria it was quiet with the Clicks store doors chained closed.
A Menlyn shop owner said: “I’m not saying it is the EFF… obviously some people do take advantage of the protest to loot... it is criminality, but for the sake of staying safe, we are closed too.”
While EFF leader Julius Malema was in his home town of Polokwane, and deputy Flloyd Shivambu was in Sandton, the local protest was led by the party’s treasurer-general, Omphile Maotwe.
She said the only way to make the “capitalists” apologise and feel genuine remorse, was if they lose money (through the shops closing).
However others have criticised the action as endangering customers who get their medication from Clicks, and staff at the stores.
“We don’t need anyone’s permission. Peaceful protesting is not a crime,” said Maotwe. Clicks had tried to get a court order against the protest but failed.
The Alberton Mall closed after EFF damaged the interior with hammers and trashed it before setting it alight. Clicks at Saveways Centre in eMalahleni was damaged by what was suspected to be a petrol bomb.
Malema said they were not on a crusade to cause damage, but to ensure stores closed for five days so the owners of Clicks could feel the financial pinch.
Malema was at the Mall of the North in Polokwane and went to other nearby stores with chains and padlocks which he used to lock the doors.
Shivambu was at Sandton City, where he echoed Malema’s sentiments. “We want to know who exactly is responsible for passing the advert. We want identities, and until we get them we will not stop.”
Clicks stores in Cape Town and Durban were also closed by protesting EFF members. They said those seeking health and beauty products should go elsewhere.
The South Africa Human Right Commission (HSRC) asked to meet and discuss the matter with all persons responsible – including employees of Clicks, TreSemmé, Unilever (which distributes the products) and any advertising or marketing entities involved in the offensive advert.
Buang Jones of the HSRC, said they required an explanation as to how the advert came to be published.
Clicks group chief executive Vikesh Ramsunder said transformation was a priority for the brand and he was deeply disappointed and had thought the retailer was moving in the right direction.
He has apologised in an open letter and said that two staff members, who were allegedly responsible for the advert had been suspended pending their investigation, he said.
In its statement, TRESemmé said the campaign set out to celebrate the beauty of all hair types and the range of solutions that TRESemmé offers, “but we got it wrong”.
The Minister for Small Business Development, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni weighed in on the matter, rejecting the Clicks apology as meaningless.
She said that Clicks should remove TreSemmé products from its shelves as “it reflects the continued undermining of the beauty of African women”.
DA MP Andrew Whitfield condemned the EFF’s actions and accused the party of inciting violence. “We will lay charges of incitement to violence and destruction of property against the EFF and, more especially, its leadership.
“We call on the police to take immediate action,” Withfield said.
But KZN EFF leader, Vusi Khoza, said that the protest had been a success and said that other opposition parties were envious that they had not come up with the idea.
The EFF was defending the dignity of black people whereas other political parties were clearly comfortable with racism, Khoza charged.
Meanwhile, media organisations including the SA National Editors Forum (SANEF) and the National Press Club (NPC) have come out against the harassment of a media team from eNCA reporting on the protest in Cape Town.