South Africa: Pres Ramaphosa says unrest was ‘instigated’ as he visits affected areas

DURBAN (South Africa), July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The South African president on Friday visited the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal to assess the extent of damage caused by looters.

Cyril Ramaphosa said the events following the imprisonment of his predecessor Jacob Zuma were instigated.

He added that authorities have identified some of the instigators.

“It’s quite clear that all these incidents of unrest and looting were instigated. There are instigators. There were people who planned it, they coordinated it.

We are after those people; we have identified a good number of them. We will not allow anarchy to just unfolding our country”, Ramaphosa said.

Locals, including volunteers have begun the hard work of clearing up the debris left behind by the looters.

For the South African President, it’s a clear sign that the “intentions of the instigators have failed”.

“They are now cleaning up the country the towns which demonstrates the intention of the instigators is failing, actually failed because it is our people who are coming now to the defends of all our people working together with our government but also coming to defends our democracy”, he added.

Over the past week, South Africa has experienced another wave of unrest following the jailing of Jacob Zuma by the country’s Constitutional Court. The incident led to the deaths of at least 117 people.

On Monday July 12, the South African military announced the deployment of soldiers in two provinces, including its economic hub of Johannesburg, to help police cope with looting and arson attacks on businesses.

Soldiers could already be seen patrolling the streets of Pietermaritzburg at midday, but the army stated “deployment will begin as soon as all the processes” are in place to prepare.

In Ekurhuleni in the southeast of Johannesburg, it was a chaotic scene on Wednesday.

Dozens of concerned men crack down on looters as security officials had a hard time trying to bring sanity. With sticks in their hands, guns and metal rods, dozens of concerned men decided to take matters in their own hands.

The minibus taxi owners patrol a ransacked shopping mall in the southeast of Johannesburg ,essentially to stop the pilfering of stores destroyed by mobs. — NNN-AGENCIES