Residents of Durban woke up on Friday morning to the sight of two massive anti-Zuma banners on a four-storey building on busy Matthews Meyiwa Road (formerly Stamford Hill Road), a short distance away from the starting point of a march that is part of nationwide demonstrations against President Jacob Zuma planned for Friday.

One banner reads "#Zuma and Gupta's self-enrichment days are over! Stop Zuma [sic]" and the other "Jacob Zuma must step down".

Entrepreneur Arthur Lambouris, one of the owners of the building, said he did not know who had put them up.

"I heard whispers about the banners. But there are a number of tenants in the building.

"But I won't do anything to take them down.

"Frankly I couldn't agree more with the sentiment expressed. South Africans across the board want efficient and clean government to alleviate poverty and grow the economy, not the looting going on now."

Last year, Lambouris and other business owners in the area – a precinct of factory shops – went to the Durban High Court and successfully forced the eThekwini municipality to properly police and clean up the area, which had become a haven for vagrants.

He argued that he was paying almost R1-million a year in rates and that the council was shirking its responsibility.

Marches divide city

Early on Friday morning, the city was quiet – quieter than usual.

Thousands were expected to take part in two opposing marches, one led by the Democratic Alliance (DA) which will start at the Old Durban Drive-In Site and proceed to the beachfront; and the other, led by the African National Congress Youth League, which is expected to take place in the city centre.

Both marches have been sanctioned by the metro police.

On Thursday, the DA secured an interdict against Mayor Zandile Gumede after it was reported that she had said in a radio interview that the anti-Zuma marches amounted to treason.

The comments were reported in a tweet by the South African BC.

Gumede has denied making any such remarks.

A local newspaper reported on Friday morning that, in an audio clip, Gumede is heard saying: "These marches that are not legalised are uncalled for. For me, as the mayor of eThekwini, I will tell the community to refrain from these nasty marches because if you want to march you know that you must follow proper channels."