President Cyril Ramaphosa says government will immediately fill critical vacancies and address positions affected by suspensions in the State Security Agency and Crime Intelligence.
This follows the release of the report of the expert panel on the civil unrest which occurred in July 2021, which gripped parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Delivering the State of the Nation Address in Cape Town on Thursday evening, President Ramaphosa said the report paints a deeply disturbing picture of the capabilities of security services and the structures that exist to coordinate their work.
“The expert panel said that if the violence has exposed anything, it was the poverty and inequality that is the root cause of the desperation of the people of South Africa.
“We are taking steps to safeguard our democracy, protect our economic infrastructure and build safer communities for all.
“The report concludes that government’s initial handling of the July 2021 events was inept, police operational planning was poor, there was poor coordination between the State security and intelligence services, and police are not always embedded in the communities they serve,” the President said.
The expert panel found that Cabinet must take overall responsibility for the events of July 2021.
The panel was mandated to examine all aspects of the security response to the unrest, and to make recommendations on how to strengthen security capabilities.
President Ramaphosa said as part of implementing the panel’s recommendations, government will begin to immediately fill critical vacancies and address positions affected by suspensions in the State Security Agency and Crime Intelligence.
“We will soon be announcing leadership changes in a number of security agencies to strengthen our security structures.
“The staffing of the Public Order Policing Unit of the South African Police Service will be brought to an appropriate level, with appropriate training courses in place.
“The ongoing damage to and theft of economic infrastructure has damaged confidence and severely constrained economic growth, investment and job creation. At the same time, we need to confront the criminal gangs that invade construction sites and other business places to extort money from companies,” President Ramaphosa said.
The First Citizen said government will take on board the recommendations of the panel, and develop and drive a national response plan to address the weaknesses that the panel has identified.
Government released the report of the panel into last year’s civil unrest earlier this week.
Meeting security issues head-on
President Ramaphosa said government has established specialised multi-disciplinary units to address economic sabotage, extortion at construction sites and vandalism of infrastructure.
“We will make resources available to recruit and train an additional 12 000 new police personnel to ensure that the SAPS urgently gets the capacity it needs,” the President said.
President Ramaphosa said another area of immediate attention will be the re-establishment of community policing forums to improve relations and coordination between local police and residents of the areas they serve.
“It is clear from the observations of the expert panel that we need to take a more inclusive approach to assessing the threats to our country’s security and determining the necessary responses.
“I am calling on all South Africans through their various formations to participate in developing our National Security Strategy,” President Ramaphosa said.
A total of R1.5 billion was approved to support businesses affected by the looting and unrest in July last year.
Security services have been tasked by the National Security Council to urgently develop implementation plans that address the range of recommendations made by the expert panel.
The members of the panel include Prof Sandy Africa as chair, Advocate Mojanku Gumbi and Silumko Sokupa. – SAnews.gov.za
