The Democratic Alliance (DA) is rallying South Africans to march to the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning over rolling blackouts.
The DA has accused the governing party of engineering the country’s energy crisis.
The march comes a few days after the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) granted Eskom an 18.65% electricity tariff hike.
It’s not the first time that one party marches on the offices of the other.
In 1994, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) marched to the ANC offices – Shell House in the Johannesburg CBD.
The march turned violent and claimed at least 19 people’s lives.
In 2012, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) members threw stones at DA supporters marching to the federation’s offices in Braamfontein and riot police had to fire tear gas.
In 2014, the DA took its fight for jobs campaign to Luthuli House and again in 2017, MKMVA members surrounded the ANC headquarters in anticipation that the anti-Zuma marchers will walk into Luthuli House.
The DA, however, decided to instead march to Mary Fitzgerald Square a block away from the ANC offices.
Today, African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) members have also vowed to direct the DA marchers to Eskom where they must all get answers and solutions to end rolling blackouts.
The video below looks at the role of politics in the Eskom crisis:
