[ad_1]
- EFF members returned to the Clicks store in Menlyn Mall, Pretoria, to protest Tuesday.
- The action comes after an ad that was offensive to black women’s hair, went viral and sparked widespread outrage.
- Clicks was granted an injunction against the EFF protest action.
As the EFF promised to keep the Clicks stores closed for the rest of the week, the protests at the Tshwane branches entered their second day on Tuesday.
The Clicks at Menlyn Mall was still closed when a small group of EFF members manned the entrance, singing fight songs and dancing while private security guards monitored the situation.
News24 visited two other Clicks stores in Pretoria that were still closed, but there were no signs of EFF members in any of the stores.
READ | Malema promises to close Clicks for a week: ‘They value money more than humanity
News24 reported Monday that EFF members gathered outside the store in the Pretoria mall to ensure it remained closed.
Similar protests at Clicks stores across the country erupted on Monday following a call to action from EFF leader Julius Malema.
The call to action to protest and close stores followed an ad that went viral on Friday that featured images of white women’s hair, which was labeled “fine, normal, and flat,” while images of women’s hair black were called “dry and damaged”. “.
Members of the EFF protesting in front of a Clicks store in the Menlyn shopping center, Pretoria.
The ad was labeled inherently racist and sparked outrage.
On Monday night, Clicks said the protests affected 425 Clicks stores in South Africa.
According to the retailer, 51 stores were closed in the Western Cape, 92 in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, and 302 in Gauteng and elsewhere.
It was further reported that at least two stores were bombarded with gasoline and destroyed.
Judicial injunction
While protests continued in stores Tuesday, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg granted Clicks an injunction against the EFF, News24 reported.
According to the injunction, the EFF or its supporters cannot intimidate or threaten Clicks employees who work in its stores or in any of its operations; intimidate and threaten Clicks customers who visit its stores, or incite violence against Clicks’ ordinary business operations.
Sorry
Shortly after the ad was posted and the subsequent reaction, Clicks apologized.
The retailer said it had suspended two people.
A Clicks store in Woodlands Mall, Pretoria, which was closed following EFF protests.
Clicks Group CEO Vikesh Ramsunder apologized in an open letter and said the emotional responses had been reflected by employees and management teams.
WRAP | EFF warns about the week of protests in Clicks stores, while the government calls for calm
An extraordinary board meeting was held over the weekend in which it was decided that its own promotional content and those 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.
