EFF’s national shutdown: ‘Don’t be stupid, don’t try that nonsense in Cape Town’ – Hill-Lewis

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis

• Geordin Hill-Lewis issued a stern warning to the EFF ahead of the national shutdown on 20 March. 
• EFF members in the Western Cape delivered letters to various institutions to warn about the shutdown. 
• The EFF is organising marches against load shedding and calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign.

The mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, issued a stern warning to the EFF, which intends to hold a national shutdown on 20 March, that it will not be allowed in the Mother City. 

The mayor’s remarks came after EFF members in the Western Cape delivered letters to various institutions and offices to warn about the shutdown on Friday. 

Hill-Lewis said: “Quite a few business owners and employers have been in touch about the rumours of a so-called national shutdown on 20 March. Let me say, in Cape Town, it will be business as usual.

“We will do what it takes to make sure kids get to school on time, that workers can get to work, that our economy can keep running.

“To those of you who think it is a good idea to organise a national shutdown – our economy is already brought to its knees by load shedding, corruption and so much else. What you are doing is hurting our economy, hurting businesses, and hurting workers even more, exactly the opposite of what you claim to stand for.

“Don’t be stupid, don’t organise a national shutdown and don’t try that nonsense in Cape Town.”

The EFF is organising various marches across the country against load shedding and calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign.

In Cape Town, the EFF’s Unathi Ntame delivered a letter to the mayor as well, to inform him about the shutdown. 

“We wanted to inform him (the mayor) and everyone concerned that there’s no work… there’s no one that must come to work – security guards, cleaners and the employees of the City of Cape Town because that day is the shutdown,” he said. 

In the run-up to the shutdown, the party has been warning communities to shut businesses or bear the risk of looting.

News24 reported on Friday that police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure had begun preparing for the day.

Mathe said the Gatherings Act stated that it was the responsibility of the “organisers and conveners of gatherings… to take the necessary steps to ensure that the gathering at all times proceeds peacefully and in an orderly manner”.