[15] Polling by the Social Research Foundation that had been carried right before the shutdown reportedly found that electoral support for the EFF had strongly declined, from 12% in July 2022 to 6% in March 2023.

[22][23] The South African Police Service stated that there would be no forcibly imposed national shutdown and that they had put measures in place to assure people's safety.

[24][25] The authorities stated that the tires were placed in strategic locations with the likely intent to create road blocks and set alight on the day of the shutdown.

[30] Malema also alleged that an unnecessarily strong presence by the police and army and an unexpected lack of loadsheading also negatively impacted turnout for the protests.

[28] The media reported that turnout for the shutdown was lower than expected,[31][32][33][29] was in fact very small,[34] and was likely a failure for the EFF,[34][33][29] possibly damaging the party's image in the run-up to the national elections.

[42] Social media posts have wrongfully shared footage from a previous protest, specifically the EFF march to Eskom in February 2020, claiming it was from the national shutdown.