The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation said it held former President Jacob Zuma accountable for what has happened in the country during the past few days.

In a press release from the Defend our Democracy Campaign, it stated: “Let us be absolutely clear, the responsibility for what is happening lies at the door of the supporters of the former president, including members of his family, who have been blatantly making inflammatory statements, encouraging hooliganism and violence, spreading fake news, and claiming this as ‘mass-based support’ for former President Zuma.”

The foundation declared there was no doubt that those who planned and staged the chaos, belonged in prison and called their actions treasonous. It stated that the strategy to have government capitulate and release the former president, must fail.

“These individuals have exploited poverty, unemployment and inequality and the raging pandemic to encourage communities and youth in particular, into acts of wholesale vandalism, looting and violence.

“The truth is that the evidence being revealed at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry chaired by Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo makes it abundantly clear that poverty and inequality in South Africa has been severely aggravated by state capture and corruption.  This has been further expedited by the ravages of the pandemic.”

The foundation has called for the perpetrators to be arrested. The release said it was clear that the intent of recent events was economic sabotage.

The foundation has called on President Ramaphosa to:

• Further reinforce the presence of law enforcement, in KZN and Gauteng in particular, to work with communities who are mobilising, to protect themselves;
• Put in place measures to ensure that freight movement of food and medical supplies is protected;
• Focus attention on the unfinished business of transformation in our country, decisively addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality;
• Implement immediate social relief of distress measures; and
• Ensure that there is better co-ordination and communication of mechanisms to report violations and implement rapid response measures to respond to flare ups.

“The challenges facing our country – economic recovery, managing the pandemic, the social well-being of all South Africans – require the most competent and capable leaders and officials.  We dare to say, that some of those who have been entrusted with responsibility in this crisis have let the entire country down”, the release stated.