[imagesource:here]

The EFF, as well as South Africa’s other opposition parties, must be watching Cyril try and steady the ANC ship with sweaty palms.

Saturday saw Ramaphosa deliver his speech at the ANC birthday celebrations, and you’re a silly billy if you think the EFF didn’t time their H&M trashing antics to coincide with that on purpose.

In an effort to score some kind of points with prospective voters, the ANC having stolen their ‘land without compensation’ rallying cry, Julius Malema’s party went the destructive route.

Some info via the Mail & Guardian:

EFF leader Julius Malema says H&M stores in South Africa are closed, “because they called our children baboons”…

“We are teaching them [H&M] a lesson, we are not going to allow anyone to use the colour of our skin to humiliate us, or to exclude us. We are black and we are proud. We are black and we are beautiful. We are black and we are not ashamed of being black.”

…A large group of EFF supporters stormed H&M stores in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town on Saturday, trashing the stores in an apparent protest of an online ad that has been labelled racist.

Celebs are burning their H&M clothes and the EFF are trashing the joint – rough start to 2018 with the retailer.

Here’s some videos of the protest at Menlyn Park:

EFF supporters protesting at H&M in @MenlynSA / @EFFSouthAfrica @Julius_S_Malema #NoToRacism pic.twitter.com/aOU6Sber5m

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) January 13, 2018

And things escalated over at the H&M store in Sandton:

Watch EFF supporter trash H&M store in Sandton City. The EFF are protesting against a recent allegation of racism. : Supplied. @hm pic.twitter.com/ecmkX6I6bs

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) January 13, 2018

I dunno, is this considered a win?

Not if you ask political commentator Eusebius McKaiser:

You’ll find plenty of pictures of the destruction if you head over here.

Let’s have some more Juju magic:

Police spokesperson Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said protestors had managed to gain entrance to the H&M shop in the East Rand Mall and steal several items…

Malema said they did not send EFF supporters to thrash the stores.

“They went because they wanted to go. To say people were sent, it means you are undermining black people that they cannot think on their own. Malema would never put a gun on anyone to go to H&M,” Malema said.

Malema is not the Holy Spirit, he can’t be everywhere all the time, he said.

So humble – almost Donald Trump like levels of humility.

Fun fact to come out of all this – the mother of the child in the original ad is now also coming under fire. Here’s EWN:

The mother of the young boy featured in a racist H&M advert has herself been subjected to racism after she defended the advert…

Liam’s mother Terry Mango – a Kenyan-born Swedish national – told Gulf News that she did not initially consider the slogan a racist one…

She told Gulf News that as a result, some social media users turned on her – and the abuse she received included racist comments, including describing her as a monkey.

“How can you fight racism if you make racist remarks,” she said. “You cannot try to defend my son and use the same words to describe me.”

These are interesting times in which we live, right?

[sources:mg&ewn]