The government took rapid action to stop this week’s trucker protests in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal in their tracks, thanks to lessons learnt during the riots that engulfed KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng a year ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s adviser Sydney Mufamadi says.
Mufamadi told journalists on Thursday that the government is determined to bring “economic banditry” to a stop and is confident that the violent unrest that engulfed SA in July 2021 will not occur again. His comments came amid alleged sabotage at Eskom, which contributed to stage 6 load-shedding, and trucker protests and threats of a “national shutdown”.
The government is set to announce this afternoon what the way forward is for an SA Police Service National Intervention Unit, which was beefed up late in 2021 to tackle economic sabotage.
Mufamadi said the unit had already made progress with strengthening security at Transnet. The state-owned rail operator has been beset by cable theft that has brought lines to a standstill, preventing key exports such as coal from reaching ports.
Mufamadi said the government is to make clear its readiness to act. “What we are doing at Transnet has taught us good lessons. But the problem of cable theft is not just at Transnet, it is also at Eskom. We are now adapting as we go,” he said.
Mufamadi said the truck driver protests in SA this week were in part a result of security having been beefed up along the country’s rail network, which shifted the focus to the roads.
The Friday briefing, by the government’s justice and crime prevention cluster, is expected to give an update on the violent civil unrest in July 2021 that claimed more than 300 lives and razed thousands of businesses.
It comes as the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) is planning its own “national shutdown” to protest against the rising cost of living and the energy crisis.
Saftu is the country’s second-largest trade union confederation with an estimated membership of 800,000 workers.
“We cannot allow our country to be at the doorstep of a failed state as we have seen in Zimbabwe and other countries,” Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said in a statement on Thursday.
Mufamadi insisted that the quick action to resolve the wage dispute at Eskom and the speed with which protests were halted in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu- Natal this week is proof that in 2021’s violence will not happen again.
“We cannot operate from the premise that it cannot be replicated, but we are sitting here saying we must prevent it from being replicated,” Mufamadi said in an interview.
State security agencies have been meeting regularly and working around the clock amid threats of a national shutdown over the cost of living in SA, he said. Alluding to a possible solution to the energy crisis in SA as well as the rising cost of fuel, Mufamadi said SA can expect announcements on a clear way forward in the coming days.
Local media in KwaZulu- Natal reported that roads on the R34 John Ross Highway between Richards Bay and Empangeni were blocked on Thursday. Truckers and taxi associations said they were protesting against the sharp fuel price increases implemented at the beginning of July.
On Wednesday, the protests over fuel hikes hit the N4 route from Komatipoort to Mbombela, formerly Nelspruit, which connects the city to Mozambique. They also shut down several roads around Mbombela leading to the Kruger National Park, and local and international tourists entering and leaving the park were urged to use alternative routes.
Mufamadi confirmed that Ramaphosa was engaging with different sectors of society to solve SA’s economic problems.
“It is important you don’t stop encouraging people to be angry. It is time to reimagine SA post state capture. Just as we did post-1994,” he said.
The latest protests come a year after former president Jacob Zuma was incarcerated for his refusal to appear before the Zondo commission, which at the time was still investigating state capture.
Zuma’s incarceration sparked the July unrest in 2021. He has been subsequently released on medical parole.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.