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Guards outside a Clicks store in Menlyn Mall, Pretoria.
- EFF members have gathered at Menlyn Mall, Pretoria, to close Clicks.
- The action comes after an ad that was offensive to black women’s hair went viral.
- Members of the group have taken similar action at Clicks stores across the country.
EFF members who congregated outside Clicks in Menlyn Mall, Pretoria, to ensure the store is closed, were allowed to continue their protest action as police and private security continue to monitor the situation.
ROLLING COVER | EFF members raid Clicks stores across the country
A small group of EFF members, led by the party’s general treasurer, Omphile Maotwe, has maintained that they will ensure that all Clicks stores are closed in Tshwane for the rest of the week.
More EFF members have come to Clicks at Menlyn Mall. They say they are here to close the clicks that follow the ad that described black women’s hair as damaged and white women’s hair as normal. @ TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/3o2Do5nAkb
– Alex Mitchley (@AlexMitchley) September 7, 2020
This follows a call to action from EFF leader Julius Malema after an ad went viral on Friday showing images of white women’s hair, which was labeled fine, normal and flat, while images of Black women’s hair was called dry and damaged.
Maotwe did not believe that the members were breaking any laws by protesting outside the Clicks store and that the police had agreed with them and had not asked them to leave the mall.
“They are not going to ask us to leave, we are demonstrating, the demonstration is allowed. The police just have to make sure that there is no violation of the law. We are not here to break any glass or do anything, we are only here to peacefully close Clicks and we are doing it, “Maotwe said.
Maotwe said the problem was that blacks are the majority in South Africa and that ads like the one posted should not appear.
“We will not allow anything that seeks to undermine the dignity of blacks.”
The Clicks staff at Menlyn Mall were preparing to open this morning, however they eventually left the store. The EFF has taken over the entrance convinced that it will not open. @ TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/GGWfqt0zd6
– Alex Mitchley (@AlexMitchley) September 7, 2020
“We come from a painful apartheid past where white was perceived to be the only thing, so we all have to look for whiteness. So when Clicks arrives in 2020 and says that a black person’s hair is damaged and dull when it is black , is an insult to us and reminds us of the painful past.
Sorry
Shortly after the ad went viral over the weekend, Clicks apologized.
On Monday, the health and beauty retailer said it had suspended two people and indicated through a letter from a lawyer posted on the EFF Twitter account that it would not reveal the names of the people behind TRESemme’s announcement due to data privacy.
READ MORE | Hair announcement: Clicks CEO apologizes and suspends employees, but EFF shutdown continues
Clicks Group CEO Vikesh Ramsunder apologized in an open letter and said the emotional responses had been reflected by employees and management teams. This weekend an extraordinary meeting of the board was held and it was decided that the promotional content of its own and of third parties would be audited and urgent diversity training would be given.
“As a company, we cannot change what happened, but we are learning from this,” he wrote.
His urgent request for an injunction to prevent the EFF from disrupting his business and intimidating staff and clients was rejected at cost.
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