MZANSI is eagerly waiting for the release of the 2021 July unrest investigative reports by two Chapter 9 institutions.
But civil rights organisation Not In My Name International has called for the government to take responsibility for the unrest.
The civil unrest, which took eight days to be stopped, claimed 350 people’s lives, leaving scores of people unemployed after shops were looted and also cost the government millions on the damage to infrastructure.
The arrest of former president Jacob Zuma sparked the unrest.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) held investigations and inquiries on the events.
Not In My Name international president Siyabulela Jentile said while they welcome the release of the reports, with whatever findings and recommendations, logic dictates that multiple truths can exist at the same time.
He said it’s their simplistic view that three participants were in the July 2021 unrests.
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“One was violently protesting the imprisonment of Mr Zuma for contempt of court, another was a criminal whose mischievous activities found expression amid the social and political unrest, and the last one was an ordinary hopeless citizen who was genuinely hungry and looking for bread. All three are guilty, but even more guilty is the South African government,” he said.
Jentile said the expert panel appointed to review the government’s response to the July unrests confirms their wide-shared sentiment that the handling of events was clumsy, there was no adequate and proper coordination between the state security and intelligence services and that police operational planning was poor, exacerbating further community tensions and gruesome vigilantism.
“We mourn the loss of life and livelihoods. Furthermore, we call on the authorities to adopt and implement the recommendations of the SAHRC and CRL Commission investigative reports.
“We must never again allow ourselves to degenerate. We must never allow ourselves to be defined by current limitations and pressures. We must collectively strive to build our country, even against the arrogance of history,” he said.
