Two suspected unrest instigators to appear in court
THE Hawks says it is continuing to investigate people who were involved in the violence and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last month.
Another two suspects have been arrested and are expected to appear in court today.
A 35-year-old man was arrested in Gauteng, while a 36-year-old woman was caught in KZN.
Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale said they faced charges of incitement to commit violence.
The unrest, in which 360 people were killed, broke out after the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma for contempt of court. The economy faces a loss of more than R15 billion as a result of damage to property and infrastructure.
Last week, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition announced the Critical Infrastructure
Reconstruction Programme (Cirp) as part of a R3.75 billion relief package for the restoration of businesses.
Mogale said: “It is alleged that the KZN suspect, a 35-year-old man, was involved in the incitement of public violence through social media and other platforms during the period of unrest in KZN. As a result, Brookside Mall in Pietermaritzburg was broken into and criminal activities such as theft of goods occurred. During the incident, the mall was set alight by the suspects. The search and arrest warrants were authorised and executed yesterday.”
The man is expected to appear in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court.
“The Gauteng suspect, who is a 36-year-old woman, who operated as Sphithiphithi Evaluator @ African Soil, with 59 900 followers, was arrested during a search-and-seizure operation in Leondale that resulted in the confiscation of exhibits for further investigation,” Mogale said.
She will appear in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.
Carl Niehaus, a prominent member of the Free Jacob Zuma campaign, said there was an apparent allegation that social media platforms had been used for the incitement of public violence.
“It is our considered opinion that these arrests are not related to the stoking of violence, or any illegal activity, but are in pursuit of the disingenuous and malicious Stratcom propaganda lie that supporters of the #FreeJacobZuma campaign are somehow involved in having used social media to stoke a non-existent ‘insurrection’.
“This is done in order to justify the criminalisation of legitimate democratic opposition, and freedom of speech, in order to use the repressive state apparatuses to harass and arrest those who expose the wrongdoings of the government, and specifically the illegality of (former) president Zuma’s continuing political imprisonment.”