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Faizel Patel – 30/07/2021
Political analyst Dr. Imraan Baccus says there is an uneasy calm in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal following the deadly violence and unrest.
Dr. Baccus was speaking to Radio Islam on Friday during the Asri Report.
Looting sprees in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng resulted in over 300 deaths while billions of rands worth of stock and property were also looted and ransacked.
Dr Baccus says there is also an attempt by pro-Zuma forces and other forces in inflaming racial tensions at every opportunity.
“I think all of us know that there’s also a constant circulation of fake news, inflammatory statements on social media. All of this is inciting fear, it’s inciting anger and unfortunately I think even some politicians, journalists, intellectuals have also been swept up in this frenzy and really contributing to the heat.”
Dr Baccus says most of the “race war” is on social media and Twitter.
“On the ground itself there are attempts at rebuilding communities. We’ve seen that recently with the Phoenix Residents Association, with Abahlali. But there’s also a a number of other efforts that have not been mentioned where local leaders etc from both ends are really trying to work on race rebuilding.”
Dr Baccus says social media is exacerbating what is actually divergent of what ordinary life is on the ground.
Listen to the full Asri Report with Dr Imraan Buccus.
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