Traffic around Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre was severely disrupted on Wednesday morning as civil society groups held a march to protest the 5th BRICS summit taking place on African soil for the first time. The march proceeded under the watchful eye of the police. The protesters will hand over a memorandum highlighting their grievances to the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Marius Fransman. The South Durban Community Alliance’s Bongani Mthembu says their organisation is unhappy with BRICS as civil society is unaware of the intentions of these countries. “BRICS is driven by capitalists and has done nothing to benefit South Africa and other African countries. The South African government is selling out other African countries that are against the BRICS bloc,” says Mthembu. The non-existent meeting with government according to these civil organisations, is their main concern as they would like to establish what is BRICS’s agenda.
– By Luvuyo Mdeni
