WEF delegates’ have a ringside view of SAPS heavy hand as state counts cost of stun grenades, water cannon

On the sky bridge between the two buildings of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, many delegates to the World Economic Forum Africa took photos of the heavy police presence on Thursday.

More than 20 police vans and the odd armoured Nyala were parked around the fountain, with a mobile water cannon and the police truck with barbed wire. The security presence had been stepped up overnight, and now high metal fences ensured the roads leading up to the centre were blocked off, putting the centre under lockdown. Scores of police, many in heavy body armour, milled about, until the afternoon when they chased protesters past numerous WEF on Africa delegates and away from the centre.

That is the photograph that will be taken home, whether that’s Accra, London or Lusaka. As will be the memories of the harshly loud explosions of the stun grenades used a day earlier against peaceful #AmINext protesters against the war on women.

On Thursday the police’s use of stun grenades, in particular, but also the water cannon a day earlier, remained a talking point, amid what some indicated as bafflement over such police tactics given the peaceful, dignified nature of the women’s protest.

As was the continued, if at a slower pace, violence and looting directed against foreign-owned shops which everyone except the South African authorities clearly recognised, accepted and described as xenophobic attacks.

The retaliation against South African companies in countries like Nigeria, Zambia but also elsewhere was documented on social media. But it was serious enough for Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala to take the lead.

“We stand ashamed before our African brothers and sisters and before the world,” he wrote in a statement released on Wednesday to WEF Africa.

“We stand in solidarity with our fellow Africans… When South Africans attack their fellow Africans, we are hurting ourselves. I am very sad that this is the second time during my tenure as group chief executive that I have had to write to the group about xenophobic violence in South Africa. I hope and pray that I will not have to do so again.”

On Thursday Finance Minister Tito Mboweni took up the reconciliatory commentary after he delivered the key address on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who at that time was addressing an estimated 10,000 #AmINext protesters at Parliament.

“We welcome all Africans who’ve come to this conference. We welcome all Africans who live in South Africa. We welcome all Africans. God bless Africa.”

When the xenophobic attacks were raised during question time, Mbowbeni said it was predominately a “political question” that needed to be discussed with everyone.

“Here in South Africa, we are going through a very difficult time of these animosities that have been generated and the violence…The majority of South Africans are against what’s happening. The majority of South Africans are appalled.”

It was slightly stage left of the bland statements that the violence and looting were strictly criminal that the government has made on various public platforms, including in Parliament.

In response to members’ statements in the House, Deputy State Security Minister Zizi Kodwa determinedly described the looting of foreign-owned businesses as “criminal”, as did Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu.

“The looting not making a good impression… particularly during such important events like the WEF on Africa,” Mthembu said. “We have no right nor justification to loot and burn their shops and properties. There is no justification to loot shops of South Africans…”

And while the opposition had also raised the protests against what is now called the war on women, Mthembu said the President would announce “measures to stop the killing of our women and children. Let’s wait to hear the President”.

But that’s just the problem – everything is left up to Ramaphosa, raising serious questions about the roles and responsibilities of his ministers and their deputies.

Ramaphosa is already chairing several Cabinet committees, including the one on social protection, the war room on Eskom which reports to him daily, according to a reply during a presidential Q&A in the House.

Then there’s the drive to raise R1.2-trillion in new investment, and now also the three-a-side committee, or First Monday committee, representing government, labour and business to discuss sector-by-sector solutions to South Africa’s unemployment.

It seems that little, if anything, is happening without the President’s say-so. It’s almost as if ministers and their departments are shielding their ineffectiveness and dodging accountability by kicking responsibility up the chain, to the Presidency.

On Tuesday, Minister of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Justice Minister Ronald Lamola missed the opportunity to set the pace amid the emerging societal anger over the “war on women”. Like the ANC MPs during the earlier parliamentary Women’s Day debate, the minister insisted their party’s policies were successful before announcing that Sunday should be a day of prayer.

The parliamentary debate and media briefing happened after details emerged in court on Monday of the alleged rape and murder of student Uyinene Mrwetyana by a post office worker, days after the killing of boxing champion Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels at the hands of her policeman ex-boyfriend. Over that weekend 14-year old Janika Mallo was killed – her body was discovered on Monday – as was student and church youth leader Jesse Hess.

Nkoana-Mashabane and Lamola kicked for touch on Tuesday to Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. And the delays turned Thursday into a peculiar day.

As protests over the war on women saw an estimated 10,000 gather – peacefully, dressed in black, carrying posters and flowers – the traditional Cabinet media briefing was postponed without a new time being given. Word came that the President would be addressing the nation. And protocol meant no one would speak before the President.

Meanwhile, WEF on Africa issued a statement on the back of a conference session to call for action by governments and business to end violence against women.

“Protesters in South Africa have taken to the streets and social media to demand action, following the rape and murder of a Cape Town university student who was attacked in a post office. Uyinene Mrwetyana was just the latest of many victims of brutal assaults in a region where approximately 45% of women and girls over 14 years have experienced physical or sexual violence,” said the statement that raised the possibility of a business-backed fund to help fight gender-based violence.

The protests were noted. As had been the xenophobia.

When Ramaphosa finally did speak it was to describe the war against women as “a national crisis” and to call for prayers from Friday to Sunday, while announcing that National Treasury would look for additional money for the various projects to fight gender-based violence while legislative reviews would get underway as the backlog in DNA testing is being cleared.

Ramaphosa repeated his call from Wednesday at a BrandSA function at the sidelines of the WEF Africa for men to stand up in the fight against gender-based violence.

“Violence against women is a men’s problem. It is men who rape and kill women. There is therefore an obligation on the men of this country to act to end such behaviour and such crimes.”

Ramaphosa’s response in his address to the nation regarding the xenophobic attacks that have killed at least 10 people was similarly tepid.

“There can be no excuse on the attacks on the homes of foreign nationals just as there can be no justification for xenophobia. Just as there’s no justification for the looting and destruction of businesses owned by South Africans.”

It was not the start to WEF on Africa under the theme “Shaping Inclusive Growth and Shared Futures in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” that South Africa had looked to. It was to have been a preparatory platform ahead of the second investment conference later in 2019.

“Team South Africa’s objectives at WEFA 2019 are to position South Africa as a destination of choice with a large presence of successful domestic and multinational investors who benefit from the country’s location, infrastructure and logistics, and profile investment opportunities in diverse sectors of South Africa’s economy,” according to a presidency statement.

It didn’t turn out quite that way. Even as the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints) – it brings together police, intelligence and the defence force – in a statement on Monday said it had a “comprehensive security plan” to ensure “uncompromising security measures” are implemented as it would “deploy its tried and tested method of integrating operational processes...”

Parts of Johannesburg, and elsewhere in Gauteng, burned in the attacks on foreign-owned businesses as police battled over days to clinch control. In contrast, in Cape Town the SAPS fired stun grenades, used water cannon and deployed officers in body armour to push back – and chase away – peaceful protesters from WEF on Africa.

The cost of that at a time when South Africa wanted to put its best foot forward is a heavy one. Its consequences will come in lost investment – and more important, lost trust, lost confidence and lost goodwill. DM