It was on a Wednesday afternoon in 2014 that South Africa’s second-biggest party marched to the governing party’s headquarters in Johannesburg. Police stopped the march on Marshall and Rissik streets, saying it was too dangerous for them to continue.

Minutes later, a group of people wearing ANC regalia ran towards the DA marchers, forcing the police to fire stun grenades at them.

Earlier, ANC supporters had been seen carrying rocks close to their offices. 

Sticks and stones: The DA’s march to remember

Nine years later, the DA is again marching to Luthuli House, this time against the backdrop of the energy crisis in South Africa. Demonstrations organised by the party will be held across the country, with the main one in Johannesburg.

DA leader John Steenhuisen said the march would be against the “ANC-engineered” electricity crisis.

“The DA’s protest will specifically target Luthuli House because this is the scene of the crime that the ANC continues to perpetrate against the people of South Africa through permanent Stage 6 load shedding and the latest 18.65% electricity tariff increase. It is at Luthuli House where, over the past three decades, the decisions were made to ‘deploy’ the corrupt and incompetent cadres who plundered and destroyed Eskom.”

I can announce that the DA is organising a major protest march to the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on 25 January against the ANC-engineered electricity crisis. Stage 6 load shedding has taken away your power. It is time to take away the ANC’s.

— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) January 14, 2023

The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has vowed to defend the party’s headquarters and stop the DA from marching there.  

Spokesperson Sizophila Mkhize accused the DA of “using the unfortunate national crisis” to attempt to score cheap political points through “senseless theatrics” of announcing a march to Luthuli House.

“We won’t be there to welcome the DA, we will be there to stop them,” said Mkhize. “They should march to Eskom, not Luthuli House. We will be there guiding anyone coming near our offices.”

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Mkhize said as far as she knew, the DA never wrote to the ANC announcing that it would march to the offices. “They [the DA] only announced on social media and the media. Wednesday will be a normal working day for us and we will be going to work and stopping anyone who thinks Luthuli House is a playground.”

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe confirmed they had not received any communication from the DA about the planned march. “We have already expressed ourselves: the DA’s march to Luthuli House is just a popularity stunt,” he said.

When asked about the ANC not being informed of the march, DA spokesperson Charity McCord said: “We really don’t have a comment on this. We are not handing over a memorandum and don’t expect them to ‘receive’ us.”

Analysts weigh in

Political analyst and Rivonia Circle director Tessa Dooms said marches are either symbolic or impactful and if the DA’s planned march “is a symbolic march, the symbolism is lost on me. The opposition party marching to the headquarters of the ANC as if they can tell another political party what to do is lost on me.

“What the country needs right now is a response that actually moves the load shedding crisis forward. I am not sure what demands they can make at Luthuli House that would have an impact on the crisis.

“It is almost like Kaizer Chiefs marching to the offices of Orlando Pirates, as opposed to meeting them on the pitch and playing the game. You do not win the match when you are not on the right playing field.”

Professor Amanda Gouws, a professor of political science at Stellenbosch University, said: “I am not sure if [the march] will achieve much. On a symbolic level, it will mean something, but it’s not going to make such a difference on the situation regarding load shedding.”

Reacting to the ANCYL’s stance on the march, Gouws said: “I think the possibility of violence is there.” DM