Pretoria - ONLY a few Clicks stores in Tshwane were brave enough to resume operations on the fourth day of protest action by EFF over the racist advert by haircare product Tresemmé SA.
Many others, however, such as the store in Menlyn, Silverton, Pretoria CBD, and Hatfield Square opted to remain closed amidst fears of reprisals by protesting members.
The Retailer announced on Wednesday evening that it would be re-opening its stores today after being forced to close their shops since protest action by the party began on Monday.
This was despite the announcement by the EFF that it would be holding meetings with representatives of the Unilever Group which produces the Tresemmé SA product line as well as a delegation for Clicks led by company CEO Vikesh Ramsunder.
EFF regional chairperson Moafrika Mabogwana said they were not back-tracking on their commitment to ensuring the stores only reopened on Friday.
Mabogwana said as the leadership of the EFF was in meetings with the representatives, they would be waiting for guidance on the outcomes before any decision was taken to stop the protest action.
“In Tshwane, we are trying to make sure the fighters are everywhere and no store will dare to open.”
And indeed even in the absence of EFF members lurking around, some stores stayed closed with no sign of movement.
The Clicks store in Centurion, however, was one of the few that decided opened for business with heavily armed private security personnel keeping watch.
Following the meeting with the Unilever delegation, a consensus was said to have been reached that the advert which depicted black women’s hair as “dry and damaged” and white women’s hair as ‘normal’ was indeed offensive and racist.
The joint statement released by EFF and Unilever said that Unilever had refused to reveal the names of the people responsible for the racist advert.
And that the director involved in the campaign had since left the company and the country.
What was agreed upon was that Tresemmé SA would withdraw all its products from all retail stores for 10 days as a demonstration of remorse over the offensive advert.
And in addition, Unilever would donate 10 000 sanitary pads and sanitizers to informal settlements identified by the EFF.
Pretoria News