July unrest report finds police were ‘ill-prepared’
One of the areas of focus of the report was investigating the causes of the apparent lapses in law enforcement by State Security agencies, particularly in the South African Police Service (SAPS)
LAST week, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) released its report into the July 2021 unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), which saw 350 people lose their lives.
The violence and destruction also caused damage to infrastructure and businesses, costing South Africa’s economy some R50 billion, with a further two million jobs being lost or affected.
One of the areas of focus of the report was investigating the causes of the apparent lapses in law enforcement by State Security agencies, particularly in the South African Police Service (SAPS).
SAPS were ill-prepared
In its report, the SAHRC found that the lack of appropriate action in response to the initial signs of unrest led to criminal activities such as theft, arson and malicious damage to property.
The commission recommended a number of suggestions on the events that took place in July 2021, including the policing of the unrest, the gathering of intelligence and the response of the SAPS.
The report also found that the South African Police Service was ill-prepared to deal with the orchestrated attacks.
“Evidence tabled before the panel points to the under-resourcing and the consequent lack of capacity within Crime Intelligence. The state’s response to the unrest in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng was hindered by poor communication, coordination, planning and high-level management. There was a delayed response and inadequate resource management, leading to an ineffective response to the crisis. Early warning signs were disregarded, and intelligence gathering and sharing were ineffective,” read one of the observations in the report.
In response to the report, the South African Police Service’s General Fannie Masemola said the filling of critical and key vacancies within the Crime Intelligence environment has been addressed, such as the appointment of a permanent Divisional Commissioner and a Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection.
All structures within the Crime Intelligence environment are being reviewed to enhance service delivery in all provinces.
Through Project 10 000, the SAPS said it has trained and deployed 20 000 police officers in the last two years to capacitate frontline policing services, as well as specialised units with a key focus on the Public Order Police (POP) unit.
July unrest was ‘well-orchestrated’
Speaking at the release of the report, SAHRC Commissioner Philile Ntuli said the commission found that myriad factors contributed to the outbreak of destruction and violence during the riots.
“The violence and destruction were symptomatic of unresolved systemic conditions, including post-Covid-19 economic recovery, high unemployment, lawlessness, discrimination, socio-economic divides and issues within the security sector. The Commission concluded that organised groups and individuals opportunistically exploited these conditions to attempt to usurp the rule of law,” Ntuli said.
Ntuli described the unrest as a well-orchestrated and a ‘violent culmination of deep-rooted political and social challenges’ that South Africa had been facing.
“The unrest was largely attributed to typologies of organisation and orchestration of public discord, crime and protest. Evidence indicated that the acts during the unrest were well-orchestrated, including the blocking of the N3, destruction of factories and warehouses, attack on government communication facilities and bombing and theft of ATMs. These events were interconnected and required significant resources.
“Two types of actors were identified during the unrest: primary actors, who led and executed widespread destruction, and secondary actors, who participated in theft. The timing of the events coincided with the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma, leading to a perception that the two were related,” Ntuli said.
Ntuli said that while evidence suggests that the unrest was well-orchestrated, the Commission ‘did not receive clear evidence identifying specific groups or individuals as primary actors, while … the common purpose or intention behind the unrest remained unclear’.
