Executive summary
◆ On August 5, 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed an expert panel to investigate what led to the violence between July 8 and 17, 2021, which left 354 people dead and thousands injured. The economy suffered a loss of R50 billion.
◆ The panel was chaired by Professor Sandy Africa and included Silumko Sokupa and advocate Mojankunyane Gumbi. Michael Sarjoo was the panel’s secretary.
◆ The weakness of state institutions generally, high unemployment, particularly among the youth, as well as high levels of poverty, inequality and unsuitable living conditions provided the context for the violence.
◆ Rampant government corruption, state capture and the frustration caused by Covid19 added to feelings of despair.
◆ The National Intelligence Co-ordination Committee repeatedly warned that if left unattended, the above issues posed a threat to State security. The panel found that many members of the executive at all levels of government did not appreciate the warnings and largely ignored these.
◆ Jacob Zuma’s rejection of the State Capture Commission’s decision was a major factor in the build-up to and the violence and looting.
◆ Zuma’s supporters used social media to encourage people to make the country ungovernable, to physically prevent his detention and to remove Ramaphosa from office, in the run-up to his arrest for refusing to appear before the commission.
◆ The night after Zuma’s arrest, trucks and cars were torched on the N3 which led to its closure. The N3 links KZN and Gauteng as well as the country’s largest port to major inland cities in and outside South Africa. Twenty-four hours later the violence spread to shopping centres and malls in KZN and then to Gauteng.
◆ Some of the looting incidents were planned and some were spontaneous. Those who planned the looting wanted it to seem as if the incidents were spontaneous, which the panel termed “organised spontaneity”. Indications are that some of the attacks were planned in hostels.
◆ Security cameras showed how the instigators moved from mall to mall in vehicles. In some cases expensive goods like solar panels were targeted which took skill to remove from buildings. In such cases criminal elements were involved. The panel was told that criminal elements were also involved in incidents in Phoenix.
◆ Community members told church leaders of impending attacks while some in the media fraternity also received tip-offs.
◆ Police ran out of supplies like rubber bullets and tear gas. Police leadership said only those with knowledge of their capacity would have known how to stretch them beyond their policing capacity. Witnesses of the violence suggested that the instigators knew they would be met with little or no resistance by police.