Jessie Duarte: Riots were ‘planned, instigated & well-coordinated’

The African National Working Committee (NWC) is in agreement with the party’s president Cyril Ramaphosa on the July riots in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal: ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte gave feedback on the committee’s meeting, which was held on Monday, 2 August 2021.

“The NWC condemned the recent attempted counter-revolutionary violence and looting, which can be characterised as insurrection. These actions, focussed mainly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, resulted in more than 300 deaths, billions of rand of damage and destruction to infrastructure, social services, and business. It has disrupted the lives of citizens and their communities, their education, health, and economic activity – threatening thousands of jobs,” Duarte said on Thursday morning, 5 August.

Parts of KZN and Gauteng were the scene of chaos as thousands took part in looting sprees, during which malls, shopping centres and other business establishments were targeted. They started out as demonstrations demanding former president Jacob Zuma’s release from prison in KZN, but soon morphed into civil unrest, spreading to Gauteng.

While the official word from government is the violence was a failed insurrection, others reckon it was pure criminality and that the country’s economically excluded merely saw an opportunity to help themselves.

Jessie Duarte on the recent riots

Given some of the communication that was circulated prior, the ANC’s Jessie Duarte is not convinced there was nothing spontaneous about the violence and has echoed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assertion of a failed insurrection.

“These events were planned, instigated, and well-coordinated. The targeting of strategic links in the transport and logistical value chain, such as the N3 highway and the Durban port, were not co-incidental. It was calculated to cause maximum disruption to the economy and flows of essential goods such as food, fuel, and medicine, amongst others”

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte

Duarte further said that the ANC NWC condemned the violence in Phoenix, Durban and that the committee stressed the need to reaffirm the governing party’s non-racial character and its commitment to building cohesive society in a united, non-racial, non-sexist democratic and prosperous nation.

“The NWC commended the thousands of members of the police service and defence force whose deployment quelled the violence and brought peace and stability to affected communities. They acted within the law and the Constitution, often in the face of extreme provocation, to prevent loss of life and property, including during the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma. The NWC expressed concern regarding the speed and co-ordination of the response and urged government to attend to the capacity, resourcing, effectiveness, and accountability of the security services”

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte