Hot topic turns out to be just a damp squib in East London

‘Here on my side of the world, it was just another Monday’

All smoke, no fire — this best describes the much anticipated and hyped national shutdown that took place on Monday.

There were promises of everything essentially shutting down, but the day spent on the metro streets covering the protests proved to be very mild.

Reporter Bomikazi Mdiya shares her experiences:

When news desk called and asked that we cover the BCM leg of the protests, I dressed comfortably because in our line of work, anything can happen during protests.

I set off for the CBD in the early morning, anticipating closed shops and few cars on the road, similar to what we experienced three years ago during the national Covid-19 lockdown.

As the morning progressed, chanting of songs were heard from a distance and in a few moments the shops were closed.

The EFF’S student members marched through Oxford Street. They were from Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu universities and Buffalo City College.

Their faces seemed fearless and ready for anything that might transpire throughout the day.

As they approached the city hall moving up the street, I tagged along with their march, recording short clips and taking pictures with my phone as they were marching.

I was quite nervous being around them as a journalist and did not know what to expect upon interacting with the masses for a comment.

As a reporter it is crucial to interact and speak to people on the ground.

I gathered courage and approached one of the marchers who referred me to one of the leaders for a comment.

He waited for me to introduce myself and as I finished, I asked where they were headed since they were marching towards the suburb of Southernwood.

He bluntly and aggressively asked what I was going to do with that information, and that I should go and ask my mother, which was an insult and rudeness on his part.

Marching students refused to give comment and did not seem interested in interacting with the media.

I made attempts to interact with them but they just stared and walked away.

They marched to Belgravia enroute to Southernwood where they collected more students and moved to town.

Near the airport, a group of marchers was seen singing songs and embarking on their own march. I was told their destination was the CBD.

When I arrived in town from the airport, they were marching towards Fleet Street and to the University of Fort Hare, then back to Fleet Street in what seemed to be a way of gathering more people.

They made their final stop outside the city hall at around 3pm. EFF provincial chair Zilindile Vena spoke to the media, with his main point being that they were addressing issues that affected all.

This included load-shedding, which according to him had been suspended for two days before the march, and meant that the government was taking the party seriously.

He emphasised that the EFF was playing a good role as the opposition. Some began to leave after Vena’s speech and it was the end of the big protest.

EFF leader Julius Malema claimed in Pretoria that the day’s events were “the most successful shutdown ever in the history of struggle in SA”.

But here on my side of the world, it was just another Monday.

Photographer Theo Jeptha: I woke up just before 4am and off I went, eager to get some amazing photos from the big shutdown.

To my surprise, I found little action that time of the morning except police officers putting out a fire of burning plastic barricades in Quigney.

When I discovered that the CBD was fairly quiet, I then went to Mdantsane. As I entered, I saw a cloud of black smoke and immediately photographed the scene.

I then discovered more burning tyres the deeper in went into Mdantsane, before heading back to the CBD.

There I noticed small groups of EFF supporters coming out of their own corners of the city to gather for the march.

The day was fairly uneventful, but a big frustration was when the situation became confrontational and some people hindered my ability to do my work as a photographer.

I feared that they would push me over and possibly drop my camera.

I managed to get one photograph but missed a few potential photographs when the police tackled one EFF supporter.

The march ended quietly in the CBD in the afternoon after protest leaders addressed the crowd.

Some began to leave after Vena’s speech and it was the end of the big protest