Home » If It’s October, It Must be Protest Month

If It’s October, It Must be Protest Month

It’s a bit like going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Last week zealous students nationwide protested against a hike in university fees on campuses and then marched on the Union Buildings. Today the EFF marched on Sandton. And this Friday, the ANC Women’s League has said it will march to protest the way the president is […]

By SAPeople Staff Writer
27-10-15 19:07
in News

It’s a bit like going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Last week zealous students nationwide protested against a hike in university fees on campuses and then marched on the Union Buildings. Today the EFF marched on Sandton. And this Friday, the ANC Women’s League has said it will march to protest the way the president is being mocked in artworks.

For anyone having trouble following which march is which, here’s a quick rundown of what’s taken place, what’s still going on and what’s coming up.

On 14 October, a march against corruption led by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa took place in Johannesburg. It followed a People’s March Against Corruption in Pretoria on the last day of September spearheaded by former COSATU leader Zwelinzima Vavi. Similar but smaller marches took place in Durban and Cape Town.

Also on 14 October, protesters gathered at Wits University to demonstrate against a planned 10.5 percent hike in university fees for 2016.

On 23 October protesters marched on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to hand their demands over the university fees to President Jacob Zuma.

On the same day, #feesmustfall protesters marched in Durban.

While some universities have since reopened, protests continue at others, such as Fort Hare in Alice, Eastern Cape, where looting apparently took place several days ago and it was reported again today that a university bookshop was looted.

On 26 October, protesting students and police reportedly clashed twice off North West University’s (NWU) Mahikeng campus.

Wits University is to reopen on Wednesday, according to reports, although most other universities remain closed and exams have been pushed back.

On 27 October The Economic Freedom Front led by Julius Malema, and a crowd several thousand strong, marched from Mary Fitzgerald Square in Johannesburg through Rosebank to Sandton to deliver a memorandum of demands for economic transformation to the head of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

On 30 October the ANC Women’s League has said it plans to march on the Union Buildings in defence of what it calls the “denigration” of the image of President Jacob Zuma.

Earlier this month, an artwork by Anton Kannemeyer was condemned by an ANC spokesman. The cartoon shows a giant black penis and scrotum hovering above a group of angry black demonstrators carrying a banner that demands, “Respect for the president’s penis now!”

The league said in a statement, “We condemn the denigration of the image of President Zuma by so-called artists. For example, recently the portrayal of the President’s genitals in the mouth of a woman.”