As we begin to pick up the pieces of shattered glass and damaged goods that lay discarded after a week of violence and looting that ravished the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, questions have come to the fore over governments response or lack of appropriate response to the “insurrection” as President Cyril Ramaphosa called it.
On Monday evening acting minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the unrest was planned and orchestrated by those who sought to overthrow the government in “an attempt at insurrection.” As Razina Munshi points out in her Financial Mail column, Ntshavheni holds that it was indeed an insurrection and that that is the official position of government. But cabinet ministers cannot agree on whether it was an insurrection.
When Ramaphosa addressed the nation for a second time in two days last week Monday, July 13, he said the attempted insurrection had failed only for his defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to say two days later that it was not an insurrection. Mapisa-Nqakula made the same statement on Sunday night saying the unrest was due to counter-revolutionary criminality. On Monday, the defence minister did a complete turnaround and conceded that the unrest was due to a failed insurrection.
Mpumelelo Mkhabela writes in News24 about whether we can still trust the cabinet to make the correct decisions following the carnage we witnessed if they cannot even agree on the reason behind the unrest. Mkhabela contends that the security cluster of government is failing and that a potential cabinet reshuffle is needed. (For subscribers)
While Wayne Duvenage writes in the Daily Maverick that Ramaphosa needs to wield the axe on cabinet ministers that are not performing their jobs adequately. “The time for a Cabinet shake-up is overdue and with the past few week’s events as a backdrop, the president’s conundrum of a passing-out parade for the fickle crew could not be better timed.”
Here’s a roundup of the day’s most interesting opinions and analyses:
SA Unrest: Ramaphosa and his government were ‘caught napping’ – The Citizen (For subscribers)
#UnrestSA: Who is Ngizwe Mchunu, the ‘instigator’ who handed himself over to police? – News24 (For subscribers)
Ralph Mathekga | Violence and mayhem: An eroded security cluster was caught napping – News24 (For subscribers)
SA buckles under the weight of twin evils – Business Day
The economics of looting and the eye of the perfect storm – Daily Maverick
It is time to act, Mr President — you are the anointed successor of Nelson Mandela – Daily Maverick
