PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the deployment of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to quell the rampant looting and wanton destruction of property in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and some parts of the country.
The military had been deployed in support of the police, said Ramaphosa.
Protests erupted in KwaZulu-Natal after former president Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months by Constitutional Court for defying a order to appear before the State Capture Inquiry chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Addressing the nation on Monday, Ramaphosa condemned the unrest as “opportunistic acts of criminality” and said the SANDF was being deployed to restore calm.“Parts of the country are reeling from days and nights of public violence, destruction of property and looting of a sort rarely seen before in the history of our democracy,” said Ramaphosa.
“It started with the burning of trucks at Mooi River in KwaZulu-Natal. Gauteng has experienced the blocking of roads, looting, damage to property and burning of trucks. Thanks to the work of our law enforcement agencies 166 suspects have been arrested in KwaZulu-Natal and 323 suspects had been arrested in Gauteng in relation to these incidents.”
The damage to property due to unrest in KwaZulu-Natal has been estimated at around R100 million.
More than 400 people were arrested while 10 people — six in Gauteng and four in KwaZulu-Natal — have died in the violence, said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa said that the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure had intensified deployments in all the affected areas in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
He added that the South African Police Service is putting measures in place to call up operational members from leave and rest-days to increase the presence of law enforcement personnel on the ground.
Some analysts and activists said the uprising was born of deeper issues of poverty and lack of opportunities.
The unemployment rate among the youth remains very high in South Africa.
According to Statistics SA (StatSA), the graduate unemployment rate was 40,3% for those aged 15–24 and 15,5% among those aged 25–34 years, while the rate among adults (aged 35–64 years) was 5,4%.
Some of these young people have become discouraged from participating in the labour market and they are also not building on their skills base through education and training – they are not in employment, education or training (NEET).
Of the 10,2 million persons aged 15–24 years, 32,4% (approximately 3,3 million) were not in employment, education or training – implying that close to one in three young South Africans between the ages of 15 and 24 years were disengaged with the labour market in the first quarter of 2021.
ANC national executive committee (NEC) has also expressed concerns over the ongoing violence.
“The current violence in parts of KZN and Gauteng is having damning effects on the economy and livelihoods. A number of business organisations have registered their concerns about the acts of vandalism. Although these acts might be driven by hardship and poverty, the poor and marginalised will bear the brunt of this looting and vandalism as critical public services are hindered and jobs are lost,” said ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte.
“We acknowledge that his imprisonment is the source of tension for some of our members. We nevertheless urge our members to remain calm and not participate in acts that seek to divide and weaken our organisation. The NEC reaffirms our support for the ANC leadership in both KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and instructs our deployees to these provinces to prioritise their engagements in the province.”
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa’s address on Monday night offered nothing new or significant in terms of measures to curb the violence, looting and destruction of property.
“There were no details, for example, of the SANDF deployment, such as numbers of troops and where they are to be deployed, as well as no details on any progress from Crime Intelligence. It was clear that the President and his government have no real plan and that citizens will have to face the mobs of rioters and looters entirely on their own,” said Steenhuisen.
“Our country is literally burning, many South Africans have lost everything they had to the looters, and thousands of jobs have been laid to waste. We needed a strong statement of action tonight, but instead we simply got more of the platitudes that this presidency has become known for.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) condemned the deployment of the defence force to quell violence and rampant looting in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and called for political intervention.
“The president, cabinet ministers and the ruling party must go to the ground and have stakeholder engagements to bring calm to a situation that began within the ranks of their own political party factions,” the EFF said in a statement.
“Anything outside of this is the highest form of cowardice and failure to show leadership. It is for this reason that the EFF is against the deployment of the SANDF to quell uprisings.”
The UDM said the blame for the unrest in the country must be laid at the feet of the entire ANC leadership.
The UDM also warned that law enforcement agencies will require strict discipline as they are entering unchartered territory with threats having been made that any means necessary will be used to prevent Zuma’s detention.
In a statement, the SACP condemned the acts of violence and criminality in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal while calling for restraint.
“The South African Communist Party (SACP) denounces the acts of violence and criminality unleashed in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng Province. We are calling upon those who have engaged in these acts of human rights violation to refrain with immediate effect, observe the COVID-19 preventative protocols, and protect life,” the party said in a statement.
“In the same vein, the SACP calls upon the state to discharge its constitutional obligation to protect all law-abiding citizens and other nationals in South Africa regardless of their countries of origin, in keeping with our constitution. Equally, the possessions and property of all law-abiding citizens and other nationals in our country must be protected.”
Meanwhile, Zuma’s lawyers made a last-ditch attempt on Monday to persuade the Constitutional Court to rescind its sentence on the grounds that the 79-year-old ANC veteran was too weak to survive prison.
Advocate Dali Mpofu told Constitutional Court judges that a contempt order had “criminal consequences” but Zuma had not been granted the rights of other criminal accused.
These included the right not to be detained without trial, the right to a fair trial and the right of every criminal accused to have their conviction and sentence reassessed on appeal, he said.
Mpofu also asked that if the court did not hand down judgment immediately, Zuma be released from custody in the meantime.
After hearing legal arguments on Monday, the Constitutional Court did not make a ruling and will continue deliberations.
- Inside Politics
