By: Natasha Archary
There is no link between former President Jacob Zuma’s incarceration and the July 2021 unrest.
This was the findings of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission), who launched the Investigative Reports about the unrest.
On Monday, 29 January, the joint report found no evidence that suggests Zuma’s arrest sparked the unrest that cost the country’s economic over R50 billion.
SAHRC Commissioner Philile Ntuli said it was merely a coincidence that both events occurred in the manner that unfolded.
“The timing of the events of the July unrest coincided with the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma.
This caused an intertwining that blurred the lines between where one ended and where the other started.
This intersection of events has led many to conclude that the two are indeed related.
However, the Commission finds that while the timing of the events of the July 2021 unrest coincided with the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma, it could not find evidence to link the two events.
It is probable that the unrest was undertaken to destabilize the South African economy, however it will be ultimately within the purview of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to make a conclusive finding regarding the orchestration of the 2021 July unrest.”
Incidents of unrest, violence and looting hit parts of Gauteng as well, but KwaZulu-Natal was the hardest hit, further fueling that the reason for the unrest was due to Zuma’s arrest.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said the unrest was used as a smokescreen to carry out acts of economic sabotage with attacks on commercial trucks carrying goods, looting and torching of malls, factories and warehouses and blocking roads and highways.
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