The DA has laid criminal charges against three of Jacob Zuma’s children, as well as EFF leader Julius Malema for allegedly inciting violence. This comes amid the current public violence and looting that has destabilised KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The DA’s Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach believes that there is a case to be made against Malema and the Zuma siblings. Breytenbach spoke to Radio Islam about why she has singled out these four individuals as being behind the violent unrest in South Africa.

Breytenbach says charges of incitement to commit violence have been laid against the four individuals – Malema, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, Edward Zuma and Duduzane Zuma – because of their social media profiles and the material they were posting on social media in the days leading up to the current violence as well as during the violence. She says that the DA is of the view that they have used to inflammatory language that possibly led to people becoming involved in acts they might not have normally have become involved in. Breytenbach said, “And we’ve seen the results we’ve seen the destruction of property, the destruction of livelihoods, and people have died.” She added, “Over 70 people have lost their lives! Shopping malls that cost billions to develop have been absolutely destroyed and it will take years, if at all possible, to rebuild them.” Breytenbach says that some people have spent their lives building up their business and now have lost them in the blink of an eye, and also jobs and livelihoods along with them.

Breytenbach emphasised that Malema, Edward Zuma, and the Zuma twins have a following and have influence. She says that Julius Malema, as the leader of the third largest political party in South Africa, would have been expected to influence his followers to remain calm and to uphold the rule of law, and to respect the Constitution. The same goes for the Zuma siblings, who would have been expected to calm down people’s emotions, not to inflame them.

The DA’s Shadow Minister of Justice and Correctional Services said that it was clear to her that the looting was a very well-planned operation. She said it had nothing to do with Jacob Zuma, adding that demonstrations may have begun with a handful of protesters outside Nkandkla, but that those were not the people doing the damage. Breytenbach said that the people protesting against former president Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment, are not the people who are targeting a type of shop, a type of area, and then infrastructure. She said, “this is planned. Certainly, it’s planned by more than one individual, and well planned and it’s disgraceful in that it encouraged ordinary South Africans, who are, generally speaking, not that way inclined, to just walk into malls and shops and take whatever they can lay their hands on – whether or not they need it, whether or not they really want it, is irrelevant.” She says that ordinary South Africans were used, abused, and manipulated.

Police are to investigate and have already allocated an investigating officer. The prosecuting authority is to assist and guide in the police investigation. Breytenbach says, “then it’s up to the NPA to decide whether or not to prosecute.” 70 people were killed and more than 1000 arrested. Breytenbach said that while she wasn’t surprised, she was filled with despair, at the sheer inability of the police to stop the looting and destruction. She said, “Police were utterly outclassed, outnumbered, out resourced and had no idea what to do.”  She said that according to the Police Act, the police must keep a public order policing unit up and ready to go, fully resourced. However, we haven’t really seen them. Breytenbach asks, “Where are they? If we do have them, why haven’t they been deployed? And if they don’t have them, why not?” she said that the police are supposed to have an elite special task force, “they can do almost anything, the stuff that dreams are made of, who can do ‘anything’.” She questions if they have been deployed, and if not, why not, saying that the police hierarchy have a lot to answer for. Breytenbach said the ordinary policeman on the street is just trying to do the best they can, with very little, having run out of bullets on the very first day the violence began.

Umm Muhammed Umar