- EFF members were back at the Clicks store in Menlyn Mall, Pretoria, to protest on Tuesday.
- The action comes after an advertisement that was offensive to black women’s hair, went viral and sparked widespread outrage.
- Clicks was granted an interdict against the EFF protest action.
As the EFF vowed to keep Clicks stores closed for the rest of the week, protests at branches in Tshwane entered into its second day on Tuesday.
The Clicks in Menlyn Mall was still closed as a small group of EFF members manned the entrance, singing struggle songs and dancing as private security guards monitored the situation.
News24 visited two other Clicks stores in Pretoria which were still closed, but there was no sign of EFF members at either store.
READ | Malema vows to shut down Clicks for a week: ‘They value money more than humanity
News24 reported on Monday that EFF members congregated outside the store in the Pretoria mall to ensure that it stayed closed.
Similar protests at Clicks stores around the country erupted on Monday following a call to action by EFF leader Julius Malema.
The call to action to protest and close stores down, followed an advert that went viral on Friday depicting images of white women’s hair, which was labelled as “fine, normal and flat”, while pictures of black women’s hair were called “dry and damaged”.
EFF members protesting outside of a Clicks store in Menlyn mall, Pretoria.
The advert was labelled inherently racist and sparked outrage.
On Monday evening, Clicks said the protests affected 425 Clicks stores across 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 petrol bombed and trashed.
Court interdict
While the protests continued at stores on Tuesday, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg granted Clicks an interdict against the EFF, News24 reported.
According to the interdict, the EFF or its supporters may not intimidate and threaten employees of Clicks working at its shops or any of its operations; intimidate and threaten Clicks’ customers visiting its shops, or incite violence against the ordinary commercial operations of Clicks.
Apologised
Shortly after the publication of the advert and the subsequent backlash, Clicks apologised.
The retailer said it had suspended two people.
A Clicks store in Woodlands mall, Pretoria that was closed following EFF protests.
Clicks Group CEO Vikesh Ramsunder apologised in an open letter and said the emotive responses had been mirrored by employees and management teams.
WRAP | EFF warns of week of protesting at Clicks stores, as govt calls for calm
An extraordinary board meeting was held at the weekend and it was decided that its own and third party promotional content would be audited and there would be urgent diversity training.
“As a company, we cannot change what happened, but we are learning from this,” he wrote.
