Various township-based organisations converged on Church Square in Tshwane on Friday to demand that President Cyril Ramaphosa must step down from his position as the country’s president with immediate effect.
The picketers made it clear to Tshwane Talks that they are “gatvol” with Ramaphosa as he apparently doesn’t serve the agenda of local black South Africans but serves the interests of capitalists and African foreigners.
“Unemployment is rife, poverty is rising, inequality is rising, crime is rife, the borders are porous, and foreigners are everywhere, so these factors point at a failed presidency,” said an irate Tumelo Mooki, Organiser of the Cyril Must Fall Campaign.
“The recent announcement by Ramaphosa that Nigerians will be allowed to come into the country without visas and open businesses in this country has angered many black South Africans because at the moment black South Africans are still complaining about the role played by Nigerians with regards crimes like prostitution, human trafficking and drug trafficking, which are heinous crimes,” fumed Mooki.
“We are losing our youth to drugs like nyaope, we are losing our sisters to prostitution and human trafficking, and what is annoying is that before this Ramaphosa administration can even begin to address the aforesaid challenges, they are instead allowing more of these Nigerians to come into our country,” said Mooki.
“We know that these Nigerians and all other drug dealers are working in cahoots with some corrupt cops and therefore this means we have a problem in the South African Police which needs to be addressed urgently,” he said.
“We are saying Cyril doesn’t represent the needs of ordinary black South Africans in this country and that is why black South Africans continue to suffer while African foreigners and capitalists continue to thrive in this country,” explained Mooki.
“We are not going to be like Zimbabweans who failed to hold their leaders accountable and allowed Zanu-PF and its cronies to do as they wish in Zimbabwe until they broke down that country, and now these Zimbabweans don’t have a country anymore and are scattered all over the place in South Africa,” he said.
He revealed that his organisation has attached a resignation letter for Ramaphosa in its memorandum and that all that is needed now is for Ramaphosa to attach his signature to it and step down.
He said a legislation which restricts foreigners from taking part in business sectors like spaza shops must be implemented because foreigners are making billions of rand from these spaza shops and take all the money in hard cash to their foreign lands because they don’t pay tax here in South Africa and they also don’t bank here in South Africa.
Mooki warned that there is no need for the government to help black South African spaza shop owners with R500 000 as announced by Ramaphosa, because the money will be stolen just like the Covid-19 funds were stolen by government officials a few years ago.
Mooki said black spaza shop owners can cope on their own and that the only help they need from the government is to prevent and ban foreigners from competing against them in the spaza shop sector.
Another picketer at the Church Square, Zakhele Ntuli told Tshwane Talks that he supports the campaign for the resignation of Ramaphosa because residents of Tshwane are not happy with his track record and also believe he is immune from prosecution, this as he was never prosecuted for “scandals” like Phala-Phala, has never been held for the high rate of unemployment that the youth are suffering from in the country, and that the visa regulations have not been revisited by Ramaphosa’s administration, thus leading to foreigners flooding this country and doing as they wish here,” said Ntuli.
“The GNU is a myth, it is just a grand coalition between the DA and the ANC to protect white monopoly capital so that the richer would get richer while black South Africans can get poorer,” said Ntuli.
Tshwane Bahlali Dudula leader Michael Maleka told Tshwane Talks that he came to picket because President Ramaphosa has allowed illegal foreigners to come into the country, open spaza shops and register them despite legislation being in place that any foreigner who wished to start a business in South Africa must first invest R5 million into the economy of the country upfront.
“Mr Ramaphosa, what do you think you are doing, because first it is the issue of spaza shops, then on top of that you invite Nigerians to come here without visas and put their stock on the shelves of the shops of this country?” asked an incensed Maleka.
Action Alliance Development Party (AADP) member Rachel Makhubele told Tshwane Talks that she supports the idea of Ramaphosa being forced to resign because of his recent statements regarding spaza shops and Nigerians.
“We already have numerous cases involving Nigerians whereby kids are addicted to drugs, prostitution, gender-based violence and human trafficking,” said Makhubele.
“Now when the President says Nigerians must come into this country easily, it becomes easy for him to say so because he is not going to suffer the presence of those Nigerians here, but that it is poor black South Africans who are going to suffer,” she said.
“What the president has said is heartbreaking about the spaza shop and Nigerians issues, and it is clear that he is taking our country in the wrong direction, and for that reason he and his GNU must fall with immediate effect,” she said, adding that she is disappointed that other political parties haven’t said anything regarding Ramaphosa’s remarks which are unfavorable to black South Africans.