There seems to be a general misunderstanding of the EFF’s proposed national shutdown. It isn’t to protest, disrupt or intimidate, it is to test the revolutionary waters. Here is how:
Whatever you make of the EFF pseudo-revolutionary credentials externally, it is important to understand that, internally, the EFF absolutely regards itself as a revolutionary movement.
As such, it is in the business of revolution. For the EFF the fundamental edifice that is South Africa is inverted and unjust, with the rich at the top and the poor at bottom. It seeks to upturn all this. And revolution is how it seeks to accomplish it.
Because its support is capped - there simply isn’t a majority market for fundamental socialism in SA - it needs a volatile environment to achieve this. And from there, it just needs to “trip the switch”. That is its analysis.
It has many of the ingredients for this: acute poverty and joblessness, rampant corruption, a profound loss of faith in the state and the organs of law and order. Much else besides. Load-shedding naturally exacerbates this social instability.
And, from the EFF’s perspective, there is some other encouraging recent precedent: the riots and looting that swept through KZN. Also the result of a “tripped switch”. All this, the EFF regards as fertile ground for revolution. It’s not entirely wrong.