Focus on unrest fallout amid talk of reshuffle

Plans by the state and the governing ANC to deal with the fallout of the unrest and get to the bottom of the looting and destruction of property that rocked the country earlier in July are likely to dominate political discussion this week.

This is amid growing talk of a cabinet reshuffle which is likely to lead to a major shake-up of the security cluster.

The unprecedented unrest, which mainly affected Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, causing billions of rand in damage and lost production and tarnishing the country’s reputation, was sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma on contempt of court charges. This was after he refused to appear before the state capture commission.

The government has been struggling to get to the bottom of the saga and to apprehend the instigators, with ministers contradicting each other and creating confusion in the process.

Last week, police minister Bheki Cele denied he had been provided with intelligence before the unrest. This contradicted claims by state security minister Ayanda Dlodlo‚ who had earlier stated that intelligence structures were constantly providing the police with vital information for them to respond.

In Cele s presence, Dlodlo told a news conference that if the intelligence services had failed, the unrest would have been far worse.

In line with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assertions, acting minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said last week the unrest was an orchestrated attempt at an insurrection and anything to the contrary was not supported by law enforcement agencies.

This challenged an earlier statement by defence & military veterans minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula who called the looting plain acts of thuggery.

Mapisa-Nqakula later clarified her position saying: “The president has spoken. It was an attempted insurrection. I confined myself to counterrevolutionary but ultimately, remember, any element of counterrevolution may lead to insurrection in a country.”

The ANC in parliament is also reportedly demanding answers from the security cluster of ministers and has requested them to provide detailed reports this week.

On Monday, ActionSA, the new party led by former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, will hold a media briefing to announce the steps it plans to take to compel Ramaphosa to act “decisively and openly” in hunting down and prosecuting those involved in the recent unrest.

While a date is yet to be set, there is great interest in the Constitutional Court ruling on Zuma s application to have his 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court rescinded.

The scheduled reopening of schools on Monday will also be closely watched.

At the weekend, basic education minister Angie Motshekga said there was agreement across the board on the opening of schools within the established Covid-19 health protocols.

“School management teams and support staff have already gone back to work as from Thursday, July 22, to prepare for the return of learners and teachers,” she said.

The school closures were negotiated with the trade unions, who were worried that teachers could pick up the virus at their schools.

However, research has shown that schools were not primary infection sites and that the teacher deaths that occurred in 2020 were unrelated to whether schools were open or not.

According to a recent National Income Dynamics Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile (Nids-Cram) survey, a research project involving 31 academics from several SA universities, schoolchildren in poor areas learnt between 50% and 75% less in 2020 than they did the year before.