According to South African security authorities, 87 persons have been arrested in the last 12 hours around the country for public violence in advance of scheduled rallies by the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party.
The EFF, the country’s third largest party, has called for a nationwide shutdown to protest catastrophic power outages and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s resignation.
“No one can stop a revolution,” EFF leader Julius Malema told supporters on Friday.
Malema has stated that important protesting areas will include ports, parliament, border crossings, and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
The party is popular among poor and working-class Black South Africans who feel excluded from the country’s wealth since the ruling African National Party (ANC) ended white minority rule in 1994.
Officials stated that a large police presence will be present to deal with any potential violence.
According to the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJOINTS), 41 of the 87 arrested were in Gauteng, which includes the capital Pretoria and the largest city Johannesburg, 29 were in North West province, and 15 were in Free State.
Arrests have also occurred in other provinces, including Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape.
According to a statement issued by Parliament on Sunday, the South African military would deploy 3,474 soldiers for a month until April 17 to prevent and combat crime in collaboration with the police.
