SA Human Rights Commission finds violent July 2021 riots stoked by agitators, not poverty

There was a “significant investment” in the “execution” of the July 2021 riots.

This is one of the major findings of a report released by the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on Monday following on from public hearings held in the wake of the unrest almost three years ago.

The violence which broke out in the wake of the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court in 2021 left more than 350 people dead and caused an estimated R50-billion in damage.

After considering the evidence presented, the SAHRC has concluded that, in particular, the damage to infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July 2021 was “orchestrated”.

The “blocking of the N3 and the N2, the calculated destruction of factories and warehouses, the organised disconnection of security and fire alarm systems, the attack on government communication facilities at the Durban Port, and the bombing and removal of ATMs” cannot be seen as unconnected events, the commission’s report has found.

Read more in Daily Maverick: July 2021 unrest instigator Mdumiseni Khetha Zuma sentenced to 12 years in jail

The report points to “primary actors” as having led the destruction of infrastructure and property, and having “mobilised” what the report refers to as “secondary actors”, who “participated in acts of theft at malls and other business premises”.

Critically, however, the SAHRC findings stop short of identifying either specific individuals behind the unrest or the purpose of their actions.

“The commission did not receive clear evidence identifying specific groups or individuals as primary actors,” the report states.

“While evidence pointed to high-level orchestration, the common purpose or intention behind the unrest remained unclear”.

Looters in Spine Road behind the Pavilion Mall in Durban on 12 July, 2021. (Photo: Gallo Images / Darren Stewart)

Neither Zuma nor poverty strictly to blame

The report acknowledges that “the socio-economic conditions of the majority of South Africans” were a “major factor” in the spread of the unrest.

But it states that these conditions were “not the cause”.

In addition, the SAHRC has found that “while the timing of the events of the July unrest coincided with the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma”, there was insufficient evidence to “link the two events”.

What, then, has the human rights body concluded lay beneath the extraordinary explosion of violence and destruction in mid-2021?

“It is probable that the unrest was undertaken to destabilise the economy,” states the report — but adds that only the South African Police Service (SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)) will ultimately be in a position to “make a conclusive finding regarding the orchestration of the unrest”.

The SAHRC’s failure to make a conclusive determination as to the real cause of the unrest is likely to frustrate many. DM

This is a developing story.