BusinessLive reports that in an address to the nation on Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa appealed to South Africans to consider the consequences of their actions and stop the wholesale looting and the trail of destruction.
“We are therefore mobilising all available resources and capabilities to restore order. Let me be clear: we will take action to protect every person in this country against the threat of violence, intimidation, theft and looting,” Ramaphosa said. His televised address came as he ordered the army to help the overwhelmed police contain violence that left a trail of destruction in several townships in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the North West following the conviction and arrest of former president Jacob Zuma. The so-called pro-Zuma protests erupted on Friday, hours after the former leader handed himself over the police to start serving a 15-month sentence for defying a court order. But the sporadic protests swelled into mobs that descended on shopping centres, smashing windows, setting commercial buildings ablaze and looting. The president admitted that though the protests began under political mobilisation, they had expanded to include socioeconomic issues such as unemployment and crime, which had been a ticking time bomb for the country. Some Covid-19 vaccination sites and clinics in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal were closed due to safety concerns, while some retailers kept their shops closed as they tallied losses from the violence that has left at least 10 people dead. Ramaphosa said some health personnel had stayed away from their facilities due to safety concerns, further hampering the vaccination rollout, which was critical to contain the spread of Covid-19. By Monday evening, 166 suspects had been arrested in KwaZulu-Natal and 300 others had been arrested in Gauteng in connection with the violence. Ramaphosa said he would meet the National Security Council (consisting of law enforcement and intelligence agencies) twice a day to co-ordinate all measures necessary to restore stability in hotspot areas.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Hajra Omarjee and Thando Maeko at BusinessLive
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