The government will impose a state of emergency, something that hasn’t happened since the height of the protests against the apartheid government in the 1980s, only as a last resort, ministers responsible for law enforcement agencies said on Tuesday.
State security minister Ayanda Dlodlo wouldn’t confirm information from Business Day’s sources that such a move was getting serious consideration, but also did not dismiss it. She said that despite evidence that violence was escalating rather than abating, intelligence work was yielding results.
“What you are hearing is not wrong, but only as a last resort. We need to give it some time. Intelligence-driven operations are yielding results,” Dlodlo said, insisting that “the situation could have been much worse”.
South Africans have looked on in horror as the country has been paralysed by looting and violence, initially sparked by the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma for defying a court order.
According to the law, the state may only enact a state of emergency if the welfare of a nation is so threatened — by among others war, insurrection and disorder — that such a step is deemed “necessary to restore peace and order”.
While it has at times been confused with the state of disaster that’s been imposed to manage the Covid-19 outbreak since March 2020, a state of emergency would go much further, giving the president the authority to pass regulations that may involve the suspension of some provisions in the bill of rights. During the state of emergency in the 1980s, SA became effectively a police state.
Police minister Bheki Cele, who has faced intense criticism for being largely absent as the country burnt, said “intelligence operations” had foiled acts of sabotage, including “the burning of a hospital, with patients inside”. He didn’t identify the alleged perpetrators, their target or motives.
Business Day understands that there have been multiple failed attempts to sabotage power stations, with only one succeeding in the form of a substation in the Durban area.
The SA National Defence Force deployment of 2,500 is expected to be “enhanced overnight” and all police leave has been cancelled, the ministers told Business Day.
Asked whether she thought Zuma’s release from prison would end the protests, Dlodlo said that things had gone too far.
“I am not saying whether he should or should not be, but you cannot control this once it is unleashed. The reality is too many people in SA are not working. You don’t just wake up one day and decide to protest,” Dlodlo said.
While the violence erupted after threats from Zuma’s supporters and family members, it has since also been linked to SA’s unemployment rate of 32.6% and rising hopelessness after Covid-19 lockdowns, which plunged millions more into poverty.
While the two ministers’ public image has taken a huge knock for their seemingly lacklustre performance, the state security minister responded that they could only do so much in the face of budget cuts. More are due to come with the Treasury having pencilled in a 2.4% cut in the safety and security budget for the three years to 2024, which would be funded primarily by cutting compensation, something it said would imply “a reduction in personnel”.
Dlodlo and Cele said the riots were politically instigated and they had identified “12 people” driving a social media campaign. It is also understood, but not confirmed by either of them, that they were due to meet some of Zuma’s associates alleged to have inflamed the violence.
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