Thousands of Garden Route residents stood in solidarity with the rest of the country on Friday, calling for President Jacob Zuma to step down.
“Zuma must fall. Zuma must fall,” Plettenberg Bay residents chanted after more than a thousand locals and visitors took hands and sang the national anthem in the coastal holiday town’s Main Street at noon on Friday.
Similar gatherings took places across the Southern Cape including neighbouring Knysna, George and Mossel Bay.
This follows national outcry after Zuma’s recent decision to sack the country’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas during a cabinet reshuffle last week.
The decision had taken its toll on South Africa’s economy and the country has since been downgraded to junk status by S&P Global. This led to nationwide marches and gatherings by South Africans.
In Plettenberg Bay, the gathering was organised by residents and saw locals from different political parties, ages, races and religious backgrounds stand side-by-side in protest against the country’s president. Residents came holding posters saying “Hamba Zuma”, “Zuma is not my President” and “No to state capture”.
Resident Janet Harding said citizens could no longer stand watching while “one man destroyed the country South Africans love”.
There were no speeches as Harding said the gathering was not a political activity, but rather a community one.
Bitou mayor Peter Lobese however announced earlier this week that he had made a call on all parties in coalition with the African National Congress in the various municipalities across the nation to pull out of those coalitions in protest following the recent events around Zuma.
“And so we shall,” Lobese said about his own party, the Active United Front (AUF)’s coalition with the ANC in Bitou.
In neighbouring Knysna about a thousand people gathered in the town’s Memorial Square.
While mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies could not attend due to illness, she said that that while she could not physically join the national outcry to have Zuma removed, she believed in the call.
“Stand tall, stand strong and show the world that we are serious about this call,” Bouw-Spies said.
In Sedgefield, just outside Knysna a large group of residents gathered along the N2 through the town carrying ant-Zuma posters.
In George hundreds of residents gathered at Unity Park in York Street where the group, mostly dressed in black, sang the national anthem before dispersing.
In Mossel Bay, about 600 people marched through Marsh Street by among others mayor Harry Levendal and church leader Peter Rhodes who said that Zuma had brought the country to the brink of collapse.
All the protests were concluded peacefully.
– African News Agency (ANA)
