POLL | Do you agree with the EFF's march in Phoenix?

There are mixed responses to the EFF march in Phoenix, north of Durban, against the perpetrators of violence and killing of 36 community members at the height of the recent unrest. 

Party secretary-general Marshall Dlamini said on Thursday the party will “decisively” deal with racism in the area, a view echoed by EFF's national communications manager, Sixo Gcilishe.

“We will never let them erase our people the way they intend to. The people killed by racist Indians in Phoenix matter,” Gcilishe wrote. 

TimesLIVE reported the march was initially branded as a demonstration against “racist Indians”, but the EFF later retracted the statement after its leadership in KwaZulu-Natal was locked in meetings with church leaders who wanted the party to spread a message of peace and unity, not further fuel racism tensions and violence. 

An amended poster written “EFF eThekwini region solidarity march to Phoenix” later made the rounds online.

DA leader John Steenhuisen accused the red berets of race-baiting on Wednesday and asked the SA Human Rights Commission to stop the demonstration. 

“The EFF thrives on racial division, and so it is very much in the party’s interest to fan the flames of localised incidents of racial tension where they exist. This is the very last thing the traumatised communities of Phoenix need right now.

“The communities of Phoenix are extremely vulnerable right now and have already lost so many lives and livelihoods to the riots. They cannot be the sacrificial lambs in the EFF’s quest for political relevance in these KZN riots, which were not racially inspired,” he wrote. 

Party leader Julius Malema appeared to be against the peaceful march stance. On Thursday morning, he said the party would respond accordingly to enemies of its fighters.

“Imagine taking advice from your enemy on how you must fight them — including black sell-outs. An attack on any fighter in Phoenix is an attack on all of us in SA and we will respond accordingly,” Malema wrote.

TimesLIVE