Wits Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib on Thursday said those who could have acted to stop the EFF attacks on Clicks stores, chose not to.
EFF leader Julius Malema shutting down the Clicks store in the Cycad Shopping Centre in Limpopo on 7 September 2020. Picture: @EFFSouthAfrica/Twitter
JOHANNESBURG – With many criticising the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) for their violent demonstrations outside Clicks branches this week, there is still no explanation around why no one did anything to stop them.
On Sunday night, EFF leader Julius Malema told his members to “attack” the stores on Monday, leaving authorities, government ministers, and the South African Human Rights Commission with ample time to mobilise.
Wits Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib on Thursday said that those who could have acted chose not to.
“If you are going to take the law into your own hands and allow this party or any other party to decide that it doesn’t like something, therefore it is going to attack them [Clicks stores] and close them down, is not acceptable in a democratic society,” Habib said.
“The EFF theories, policies, and behaviour is racism and no different from the AWB. It is not different from any other racist organisation,” he added.
Hundreds of Clicks stores were forced to shut their doors while many were trashed by EFF members.
The party is demanding that the retailer remain shut until Friday after it published a racist ad on its website referring to black natural hair as “dry, damaged, and frizzy.”
WATCH: EFF members protest outside Clicks store
The EFF has also come under fire after eNCA journalist Nobesuthu Hejana was harassed by a group of men wearing EFF T-shirts on Tuesday while covering the protests in Cape Town.
EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi responded to a video of the incident denying that Hejana was harassed, saying that “she was merely touched.”
Not In My Name’s secretary-general Themba Masango said that was unacceptable.
“It was pure harassment and those members who did that need to be reprimanded and put to order,” he said.
The EFF is expected to meet with Clicks and the company that owns TRESemmé, Unilever, on Thursday.
The party said that protests at all Clicks outlets would continue as planned.
LISTEN: Prof Adam Habib’s full interview on Radio 702