‘They were killed like stray dogs’: One year later, where is the justice for those murdered in July unrest?

“It’s like they killed stray dogs on that night … no-one is being held responsible for the death of my son. The police have been quiet since we buried Sihle on July 20 last year.”

One year after the violent unrest that plunged parts of SA into anarchy and claimed the lives of 354 victims, Sihle Kotelani’s mother, Hlengiwe, battled to hold back tears during an interview at her home in Amaoti, Inanda, in KwaZulu-Natal. 

For eight dark days in July last year, South Africans watched in horror as the country was engulfed in a violent spree of looting and death, as protests against the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma rocked KwaZulu-Natal and quickly spiralled into lawlessness and looting.

During a six-month investigation, the Sunday Times identified Kotelani as one of 199 people murdered in KwaZulu-Natal during the riots, most of whom were shot from behind. A further 38 were murdered in Gauteng.

Kotelani’s name is included in a data set the Sunday Times obtained. The data set includes the names of most of the dead and how and where they died. However, many of the victims remain unnamed, entered simply as “unknown”.

Phoenix, outside Durban, became a racial flashpoint during the riots and recorded the highest killings at 32, just a few shy of the total number of people killed in Marikana.

Umlazi, the second-worst affected area, recorded a shocking 23 deaths. The broader Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni recorded 15 and 18 respectively.  

Police have for months ignored repeated questions from the Sunday Times about the number of people killed in the riots.

Not since the Soweto uprising of 1976 had SA witnessed such widespread destruction and death.

In scenes reminiscent of a warzone, streets were littered with the debris of rage and destruction. Shops, businesses and warehouses were torched and trashed. Major highways became no-go zones. Vigilantes intimidated and shot innocent bystanders with impunity. Bodies piled up in government mortuaries, some never to be claimed by their loved ones. 

Yet despite the staggering death toll, few have been charged and no one has been jailed for the killings.

Amid warnings of a possible fresh outbreak of violence, top government figures moved this week to reassure South Africans that steps are being taken to strengthen the state’s response to a repeat event.

At a press briefing called to mark the first anniversary of the unrest, police minister Bheki Cele, defence minister Thandi Modise and minister in the presidency responsible for state security Mondli Gungubele tried to reassure the country that they had matters under control, in spite of the few arrests and the failure to follow up against those President Cyril Ramaphosa accused at the time of attempting an “insurrection”.

Asked by the Sunday Times at the press briefing on Friday what he would say to those who felt the government’s response had been poor, Gungubele said: “For 27 or 28 years we have come across that question. The best way to respond is to understand what characterises the inadequate performance. That’s the only way you can correct it.

"So we will respond [at] the end of the term. At the end of term it is [South Africa’s] decision to say your good is not good enough for us. We have always respected South Africans.”

At the same briefing, Modise said 36 suspects had been arrested in connection with the killings in Phoenix, while 31 people had been arrested for attempted murder. 

Modise told the briefing that the Hawks were investigating eight cases of incitement, and the justice cluster was looking at how strong the investigations and prosecutorial teams are.

“We are also criticising ourselves seriously. Where are our weaknesses, where can we do better, how can we protect South Africa better, internally and from across our borders?”

The authorities have also made little progress in prosecuting the alleged instigators of the riots. 

Last July Cele said police had a list of 12 instigators, and Ramaphosa vowed that “anarchy and mayhem” would not be allowed to unfold.

“We are going after them, we have identified a good number of them,” the president told reporters in KwaZulu-Natal a week after the riots erupted.

I can’t imagine that you can solve the problems that are facing the country without addressing the problems of the ANC

—  Sydney Mufamadi

Cele said on Friday that police were working with other structures to prevent a repeat of last year’s unrest.

“As you go to the N3, like Mooi River, there are places where there are permanent … security forces, sometimes assisted by the soldiers. But also, this highway is patrolled to detect [anything that will] disrupt those main arteries of our economy. Hence there will be a quicker response.

“I think a better working relationship and better co-ordination of structures have worked. But I must say one other thing that has been put in order is to work with communities and structures.”

Asked at the briefing what had been done to improve the State Security Agency (SSA), Gungubele said: “To date the top management posts have been filled. From the criminal side, there is a productive relationship between SSA and DPP [the director of public prosecutions]. The new DG [director-general] is finalising a blueprint for turning around the entire organisation. There are a number of people who have been fired and others have been answering for their sins.”

Ramaphosa’s national security adviser, Sydney Mufamadi, said the government has now focused on the National Security Council (NSC) to implement the recommendations of two reports: a 2018 high level review panel report on the SSA, led by Mufamadi himself; and a report by a panel of experts, led by professor Sandy Africa, into the civil unrest last year.

Both panels, which were appointed by Ramaphosa, found serious failures in the  intelligence agencies in safeguarding  citizens and said internal ANC factional battles had negatively affected governance.

The 2021 panel found that the initial handling of the events by the government was inept, that the police operational plan was poor, and that co-ordination between the various arms of state security and intelligence could have been better.

Mufamadi said: “If you were looking for symptoms of anti-democratic culture you just had to look at the things that were happening at the SSA.

"The observations we made are really relevant in crime intelligence and defence intelligence in many ways. The intelligence services have to co-ordinate among themselves and if one of them goes rogue, it goes without saying that the entire system is contaminated.

“July 2021 happened, there was this finding that police are not always embedded in the communities that they serve, the question of poor service delivery and the persistence of socioeconomic inequalities were some of the driving forces behind the unrest … I can’t imagine that you can solve the problems that are facing the country without addressing the problems of the ANC.”

He said the NSC, which was found to have failed to meet regularly even before the July unrest, was now meeting every second month and also as and when necessary. The NSC is a structure which prepares, interprets and disseminates intelligence, which may influence state policy. 

“We are able to observe the new forms of attacks and we are now able to adapt to them.  We are not moving from the premise if it [unrest] happens again, we are now moving from the premise of how we prevent it from happening,” said Mufamadi.   

He said the government was working with business and the Minerals Council SA to deal with what he calls “economic banditry” in the trucking industry to root out criminal syndicates.

During the first days of the unrest last year trucks were used to blockade roads and there have been recent incidents of trucks also blockading national roads.

Mufamadi said a national intervention unit led by Maj-Gen Nonhlanhla Zulu has been set up in dealing with the problems of transporting coal exports partly because of Transnet infrastructure challenges and lack of security for rail infrastructure.