Forget the blame, take action Ramaphosa

As we have seen repeatedly over years – and which was confirmed as an ugly reality this week – this means a culture of impunity develops, because there are no consequences for even the grossest form of illegality.

The cops did little.

And, even when the ANC did finally commit the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), they tied soldiers’ hands. It was just more monitoring and no force to be used unless their lives were threatened. But, a silly show of force followed after President Cyril Ramaphosa finally emerged from his political foxhole on Friday to visit Durban, when the SANDF de-ployed a number of Rooikat armoured vehicles.

These are not intended for use against people in an urban setting and, other than running down protesters or forming a metal barricade somewhere, are next to useless in a riot situation. None of this will have been lost on the instigators of the insurrection. They will have seen no security force unit taking effective action.

That inaction may well usher in the next phase of revolt. On the other hand, a slaughter of even a few people may have been used to play the martyr card and may have inflamed matters. Yet, there has to come a time when a government uses an iron fist, human rights notwithstanding.

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When rioters and looters place innocent lives in danger – as they did in destroying clinics, doctors’ surgeries and even, in Durban, a dialysis unit for kidney patients, never mind those Covid patients who may have died because oxygen sup-plies were disrupted – then those lawless people surely forfeit their rights as citizens, including the right to life.

Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), German philosopher.It didn’t take long before the blame game started. More than a week after violent protests and looting in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and other provinces, we are still none the wiser as to how and why this was allowed to happen. President Cyril Ramaphosa initially suggested ethnic mobilisation was behind the attacks, but later withdrew his controversial comments.

Yesterday, he reiterated this was not the reason. The jailing of former president Jacob Zuma for being in contempt of court is what sparked the violent protests, with many insisting it was pre-planned. Any excuses offered from our leaders have been pretty poor, once again highlighting how out of touch many of our ministers actually are.

State security has deflected the blame, stopping short of passing the hot potato to the police, who didn’t act in time. If that’s the case, Police Minister Bheki Cele should answer. However, if state security didn’t know about the threat, surely State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo must be held accountable?

Ramaphosa took on some blame yesterday. Well, sort of…“Our people are standing united, we all admit that there were lapses. We learnt a lot from this, we will make sure we gather our wits and do a proper review.”He added: “This has united us as never before, wherever I’ve been – I’ve just seen unity right across. People want to defend what we have and they are determined to rebuild and make sure we create something more solid.

And also rebuild livelihoods, I’m more determined than ever that what we rebuild will be stronger.”The only real action that has come in the aftermath of the looting is from the public, who have united in rebuilding the country in the form of donations, cleaning up and sticking together to protect their communities.

That, in itself, is sad from the point of view that our government has been so weak and ineffective in this period, but it’s promising that our people so unselfishly work together to get us back on track once again.