President Cyril Ramaphosa sought on Friday evening to reassure a nation emerging from a traumatic orgy of violence hither to unseen since the dawn of democracy.
His plan, a hallmark of his administration, was simple: the government must not be defensive, must admit errors of judgment and then communicate a plan on how it intends to return a semblance of normality to our public life.
Great approach, except that the plan was a week late and the communication missed the mark.
“As this government, we must acknowledge that we were poorly prepared for an orchestrated campaign of public violence, destruction and sabotage of this nature.
While we commend the brave actions of our security forces on the ground, we must admit that we did not have the capabilities and plans in place to respond swiftly and decisively,” Ramaphosa admitted.
Part of the social contract between the state and citizens, including business owners, is that the state must secure the sovereignty of the country against any external and internal threats to the orderliness of life.
In exchange, residents subject themselves to the laws of the country. That the government was poorly prepared to manage an initial surge of protesters must concern us all.
If illprepared and without the capabilities to deal with rioters, what kind of threats then is the government fully prepared for? War?
Ramaphosa talked about the “brave actions of the police” and said nothing of the cops who watched, almost as if to encourage the looting and want on destruction of property.
The police were anything but brave. Where they engaged in battles, these were perfunctory. And if Ramaphosa wants to inspire confidence following the mismanagement of the crisis, the first step is an attempt at the truth.
Certainly, he should have told us the eThekwini metro officers caught on camera helping themselves to the loot have been fired. But alas.
One of the major flaws in the government’s response was that when it had an opportunity to unleash the army to quell the carnage following the police’s dismal failure, Ramaphosa authorised a limited and ineffective 2,500 at a time when the situation required the current 25,000 troops.
At the heart of this seems to be a troubling inability to read the national mood.
At the heart of this seems to be a troubling inability to read the national mood
It seems too plain a point to make that in a country like ours, with glaring poverty and inequality, acts of looting in one community will almost certainly spread if not immediately followed by stern actions to restore order.
In other words, without consequences, such looting becomes an incentive for more anarchy.
Nothing complicated. Yet, we must accept that ours is a government that could not anticipate the obvious, a government caught flat-footed by what Ramaphosa describes as enemies of democracy whose attack was “deliberate, co-ordinated and well planned”.
Where the state failed to protect residents and their properties, many, at great risk to themselves, banded together to create a veneer of protection against the mass of rioters the state could not control.
It was a recipe for disaster that predictably led to some of the almost 200 killings in the past week.
These residents have no training in crowd control. Their default response is to shoot. In a volatile province like KwaZulu-Natal, such attacks quickly take on a racial tone between South Africans of Indian descent and Africans.
Even more saddening was politicians coming out of hiding when the chaos and violence seemed to abate as a consequence of various communities’ decisive steps to protect their territories.
ORDER UNDER THREAT
Ramaphosa promised action against “those who lit the flame, and those who spread it”, noting that the police now have a view of who the perpetrators are.
The president says “the constitutional order of our country is under threat”. He told the nation: “These actions are intended to cripple the economy, cause social instability and severely weaken — or even dislodge — the democratic state.”
Put differently, Ramaphosa wanted us to know that those behind the riots want him removed from the Union Buildings and wish to install a dictator at the helm. This is a serious statement, one not to be made simply because these attackers had exposed the ineptitude behind those responsible for securing our country.
It is a statement that has serious political and economic implications.
If indeed the constitutional order is under threat, Ramaphosa has an even greater responsibility to not just create alarm, but be open with the citizenry for, in the end, it is they whose lives were on the line when apartheid was defeated and it is they, again, who will defend this democracy.
With the ill-prepared security machinery of the state, citizens of this country deserve more than just a teaser about the threat to our democracy, delivered through evening soliloquies whose relevance seems to wane with each address.
This attenuated form of democratic accountability must not be encouraged. The president must answer media questions and provide details.
When he says, for example, they will “find those who instigated the violence” and that “they will be held accountable” for their dastardly deeds, the media, too, must play its democratic role by questioning the basis of this belief.
If the state knows who the instigators are, why are they not arrested? Is the state unaware of their whereabouts? If so, what possibly is it not aware of?
Therein lies another problem with the government’s approach. At a time like this it is imperative for the government to allay fears by being open and frank about what it is dealing with.
It is significant that Ramaphosa was accompanied by the police and defence chiefs when he made his Friday evening address. That he prefers to announce rather than engage sends wrong messages.
Despite these tactical errors, those wishing to eject a democratically elected government must be rounded up quickly and made to face the full wrath of the law.
There must be no room for such adventurers in our country.
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