Image: SANDILE NDLOVU
Faizel Patel – 13/072021
Columnist Ivo Vegter says commentators and analysts have warned over the years that there would be civil discontent and unrest in South Africa.
Vegter was speaking to Radio Islam on Tuesday about the riots in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Riots have erupted in many parts across the country, with criminals looting shopping centres and burning infrastructure.
President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Monday after more than three days of disruption saying the theft and violence is criminal and not political.
Scores of shops have been looted, trucks have been burnt and pillaged
Vegter says the current wave of riots sweeping across the country has nothing to do with the imprisonment or freeing former President Jacob Zuma.
He says Zuma is not incarcerated in shopping malls.
“This is not the storming of the Eskom bastille. The mobs are liberating big screen televisions and boxes of goods. They are not liberating the former president. This is maybe the spark for a tinderbox that’s been filling for years. Commentators, analysts, myself, the Institute for Race Relations and Centre for Risk Analysis have over the years warned that the country’s deteriorating economy, consistent high unemployment and blatant enrichment by corrupt elite while the poor stay poor was going to lead to widespread and worsening civil discontent and unrest and this is what we are seeing now.”
Vegter says the riots is not a sudden unexpected response to a single event.
“This is the entire predictable consequences of decades of misrule by the ANC government.”
Vegter also touched the on the newly revived legislative proposal that will prevent South Africans from getting a firearm licence on the basis that they need the weapon for self-defence.
Listen to the interview with Ivo Vegter
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