By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said on Tuesday night that it was not his place to categorise the July 2021 unrest as an attempted insurrection, or anything else for that matter.
General Rudzani Maphwanya told the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) the riots were “unprecedented” and if the military was again needed to defend the country from a similar occurrence, it was ready.
“You will think it is unfair [of me] not to make a pronouncement. The country was burning, and that is why we were called in. How, why… the answer is blowing in the wind. Why it was burning, how it started burning, we said let those that [work in that sphere do the investigations].
“Let those who are supposed to provide the answer provide it; the defence force is ready to defend the country.”
Having finished its three-week hearings in KwaZulu-Natal last year, the commission in February set up in Johannesburg to conclude its probe into the devastating riots, which left more than 300 people dead — the vast majority of them in KwaZulu-Natal and who were killed while scrambling to steal looted goods — and stripped the national fiscus of more than R50-billion.
Commissioner Andre Gaum asked if Maphwanya was privy to any early-warning intelligence reports on the unrest, given that the SANDF had a representative on the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints).
Maphwanya said it would not be “helpful” to get involved in finger-pointing around the issue.
While Police Minister Bheki Cele and several politicians have testified that no early-warning intelligence reports were forthcoming, the then State Security Agency (SSA) minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, during her testimony last week labelled the allegations “theatrics” and insisted there was a stream of reports before and throughout the riots.
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Video Courtesy of SAHRC.