It was not ethnic mobilisation, – Ramaphosa
Senior politician in court today
THE looting and violence which resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last week, was not part of ethnic mobilisation, President Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday.
Wearing ANC regalia, Ramaphosa visited three Soweto malls as part of the ruling party’s clean-up campaign following days of anarchy. In KZN 180 people were killed and in Gauteng 32.
The Ndofaya, Jabulani and Maponya malls were among scenes of unrest.
Ramaphosa began his visit at Ndofaya where a stampede during looting resulted in 11 deaths.
There was a belief that the unrest might have been sparked by ethnic mobilisation. Ramaphosa himself had initially hinted at this, but yesterday outside Maponya Mall he told a group of residents: “It started almost like there was a thing of tribalism and there isn’t such. I must make it clear there is no ethnicity in this. And our Zulu-speaking compatriots, we are all united against what is happening. This notion that this is ethnic is out of the window.”
He apologised for the security cluster’s slow response.
“We have learnt important lessons, that we must tighten up our security forces and we must ensure the defence of our democracy is firmly in the hands of our people. The people who organised this were so well organised. They came with guns and grinders and they came to attack our democracy,” he said and again promised that those behind the attempted insurrection would be found.
“Now the next step for us is to rebuild. We must rebuild from an economic point of view and find a way of supporting the workers and the businesses,” he said.
Meanwhile, a senior Joburg politician is due to appear in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court today for allegedly instigating mobs to attack malls on the West Rand.
The politician, who is linked to a political party in the City of Joburg, allegedly called on members of the ANC Youth League and ANC Women’s League to join him and his supporters in attacking malls in Roodepoort, Krugersdorp, Randfontein and businesses in neighbouring suburbs. He also allegedly urged his supporters to block all main roads in Main Reef and lodge attacks on trucks delivering goods to various premises in the West Rand towns.
His alleged audio video led to some of the residents in the suburbs west of Joburg and West Rand region making frantic calls to their residential security companies and neighbourhood watches to join in the search for the suspect.
The politician can’t be named as he is still to appear in court.
In a bid to protect its residents, Florida Community Policing Forum deputy chairperson Farhaad Sardiwala sent the audio video to the police and their crime intelligence.
West Rand residents were relieved following the politician’s arrest in the early hours of Friday at one of his addresses in Witpoortjie, west of Joburg.
His arrest came after the police tasked all sources and contacts to establish the origin of the video. Police recovered three cellphones.
Brigadier Masolle Manamela, station commissioner of the Randfontein police station thanked residents for the tip-off.
“Business must operate as normal. The police are continually monitoring the situation. It is sad that the suspect stays within the Randfontein police precinct,” Manamela said.