DA calls for ‘transparent probe’ into unrest

The DA will on Monday hold a media briefing to set out the official opposition party’s expectations for the parliamentary inquiry into the recent unrest that engulfed SA’s economic powerhouses of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal after the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.

The mayhem that saw shops, warehouses, factories, pharmacies and malls stripped bare and set alight was characterised by President Cyril Ramaphosa as a failed insurrection.

The chaos led to the closure of Durban’s port, the country’s most important and the closest to the economic heartland of Gauteng. More than 300 people lost their lives during the unrest that ensued after the incarceration of Zuma, who is serving a 15-month sentence for failing to abide by a Constitutional Court order to appear before the state capture commission.

Gauteng premier David Makhura said preliminary estimates were that SA’s economic hub lost about R3.5bn as a result of the unrest and looting.

Finance minister Tito Mboweni has said the estimated cost of damage to property and infrastructure in eThekwini alone was about R15bn.

Last Wednesday, Mboweni announced a R39bn package to support SA’s economic recovery and provide relief to the poor after the unrest.

DA national communications officer Debreé Kluge said while the party welcomes the intention by parliament to convene an inquiry into the unrest “the DA will not be party to an inquiry that’s merely a tick-box exercise by the ANC to save face. The public deserves a full, open and transparent investigation”.

On Friday, a joint meeting of the portfolio committees of police, defence, justice, correctional services and security, resolved to refer a request to establish an inquiry into the unrest to parliament’s presiding officers for further consideration and decision.

The National Assembly’s rule 227 (3) states that “if there is a doubt which portfolio committee must deal with a specific matter, the Speaker in consultation with the chief whip must decide the question, subject to any directions of the rules committee or a resolution of the assembly”.

On Tuesday, co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will brief the media on developments regarding the local government elections.

In July, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) decided to postpone the October municipal polls to February 2022, subject to approval by the courts. The municipal elections were initially scheduled for October 27 2021 in line with a constitutional five-year limit placed on the tenure of municipal councils.

However, the electoral body “unanimously” decided to implement the findings of the Moseneke report, which recommended that the elections be postponed to February 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Labour federation Cosatu will from Monday until Wednesday convene a special central executive committee to finalise preparations for its meeting in September.

The committee will assess the implementation of resolutions of Cosatu’s 13th national congress held in September 2018, which included, among other things, the implementation of a national minimum wage, national health insurance, and that land expropriation should not compromise SA’s food security and economic activity.

On Thursday, Cosatu will hold a briefing to announce the outcomes of the central executive committee meeting.