South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said in Durban that the violence and looting that has swept the country in the past week was “instigated and planned by some unnamed people.”
The president said this when he undertook an oversight visit to Durban in KwaZulu-Natal to assess the impact of recent violence and the deployment of security forces, especially 25,000 soldiers to assist the beleaguered police services.
Ramaphosa said the country’s security cluster could have done better to deal with ongoing violence and looting, which has resulted in the arrest of 1,478 people and loss of 117 lives – 95 of them in KZN alone following rampant looting and destruction of property.
He said instigators of the mayhem had been identified and would soon be arrested.
“It is quite clear that all these incidents of unrest and looting were instigated. There were people who planned and coordinated it,” he said.
He added: “We are going after them. We have identified a good number of them. And we will not allow anarchy and mayhem to just unfold in our country.”
Ramaphosa said many businesses were closed in the province and people were queuing just to get essentials.
President’s visit follows government’s engagement throughout the week with different sectors of society, including organised business, interfaith leaders and political parties represented in Parliament.
NM/jn/APA