South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was on Wednesday meeting political party leaders in a bid to quell the violence that has killed 72 people in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces.
Ramaphosa is consulting with the various leadership to develop a society-wide response to the violence, looting and destruction of property that has seen the arrest of over 1,200 people in the two provinces.
He met with religious leaders from the different faith communities.
According to him, the leaders expressed support for government’s efforts in bringing stability to a number of areas where incidents of unrest were taking place, including the two provinces.
This was his latest consultations with various stakeholders that started on Monday, with a meeting between ministers and business leaders on the situation in the country.
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa chaired a National Security Council meeting to assess developments in the country and coordinate the government’s security response to the widespread criminality.
South Africa, which has deployed 2,500 soldiers to support the police in stabilising the situation, also called for a comprehensive response to societal conditions enabling the unfolding events which were triggered by the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma for contempt of court.
Zuma is currently imprisoned 15 months for this.
NM/jn/APA