Kenya, South Africa brace for protests against high cost of living

Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced the closure of its booking offices in the western city of Kisumu and South Africa’s Johannesburg on Monday due to planned anti-government protests in both countries.

In a statement, Kenya Airways said the booking offices would reopen on Tuesday.

“The safety and wellbeing of our employees and customers are our highest priority,” KQ’s statement says.

The move does not affect the operations of other booking offices within the airports of the mentioned cities.

Kenya’s protests have been called by veteran opposition Raila Odinga in a fight against the government of President William Ruto, which he says is illegitimate. He is also agitating for solutions to the high cost of living, among other demands.

In South Africa, opposition leader Julius Malema, of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), is mobilising a national shutdown, to push for the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa and demand an improvement on the southern African nation’s energy crisis.

Kenya’s police say the protests are illegal but Mr Odinga insists the plan will go on.

President Ramaphosa has deployed over 3,000 soldiers across South Africa to help police maintain law and order in the country during the protests, local media reported.