Faizel Patel – 19/072021
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the deadly riots, looting and unrest over the past week in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal is a stark reminder of how deep the problems are and how far South Africa still has to go.
Ramaphosa was addressing the nation during his weekly newsletter “From the desk of the President.”
Last week, several people were killed during stampedes after criminals looted shopping centres and malls for food, clothing and electronics, ransacking factories and torching warehouses.
Ramaphosa says in the coming days, weeks and months, the true cost of the campaign of destruction will be keenly felt, especially by the poor.
“Businesses have been destroyed and livelihoods lost at a time when we are already feeling the strain one and a half years into a global pandemic. The economic damage has sapped many of the budding shoots of recovery we were witnessing just a few weeks ago.”
Ramaphosa says government is not only rebuilding our country after the destruction of the past week, but. rebuilding it after the devastation of decades of dispossession and exploitation.
“We need to fundamentally transform our economy and our society, deepening our efforts to create employment, lift millions out of poverty and ensure that the country’s wealth is shared among all its people.”
Ramaphosa says the values of peace, tolerance and compassion that underpin our democracy have not been destroyed by its enemies and that our democracy is safe and secure because it is protected by the people.
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