Factional battles in ANC disabled security agency response during July unrest: Expert

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The Institute for Security Studies’ Jakkie Celliers says factional battles in the governing African National Congress (ANC) have incapacitated the country’s top security agencies. He was commenting on the report by the Expert Panel on the July Unrest.

The report which was released to the public by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday cites internal differences within the ANC as one of the contributing factors to the looting and violence in July 2021 that hit KwaZulu Natal and parts of Gauteng.

It says the country’s intelligence services failed to detect and disrupt the planned unrest because they were reluctant to gather information on certain political individuals.

Cilliers says government needs to permanently appoint professionals in leadership positions in the country’s security agencies.

“These are not deployments of factional members of the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) or the CR22 factions within the ANC but these are people that are professionals that emerge from within the security agencies and there are many of them and then making sure that our security agencies are no longer instrumentalized to be part of the factional battles within the party.”

“In the one sense it is really about insulating and professionalising and making sure that our security agencies are led by the best,” says Cilliers.

SABC Digital News takes a look at how the riots unfolded:

Discussion on unfolding events at the SAHRC hearing into the July unrest with David Bruce:
Cabinet must be held accountable for the July unrest

The report says Cabinet must take responsibility for failing to contain violence which saw the destruction of public property, the killing of over 300 people, and destruction of businesses in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and some parts of Mpumalanga.

It also says the intelligence was reluctant to gather information on certain political individuals fearing to be accused of interfering in politics.

In his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, President Ramaphosa is expected to outline actions that government will take in response to the findings and recommendations of the report.

a month ago