Institute for Security Studies founder and former executive director Jakkie Cilliers said that increasing factional tussles within the African National Congress (ANC) were driving South Africa’s economic meltdown.

He was speaking to a local radio station where he said he believed there was an orchestrated move to repeat the violent unrest the country witnessed in July 2021.

Cilliers said it should be remembered that 2022 was the year of the run-up to the ANC's elective conference, where ANC factions would battle it out.

Last year, the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma sparked violence that resulted in looting, destruction and the death of more than 200 people in some parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

When asked if the country was prepared in the event that Zuma was jailed, Cilliers warned that the country would likely see some kind of destruction regardless as those who instigate violence were threatening violence so that they too would not be prosecuted.

He said people who were heavily implicated in corruption within government were still employed as ambassadors and deputy ministers, infuriating many South Africans.

He blamed the Presidency for not taking action owing to the huge internal fighting and factional battles currently at play ahead of the ANC internal elections that would determine South Africa’s future.

Police Minister Bheki Cele has yet to announce any information about the instigators of the July unrest despite the damning expert panel report that was issued in February this year. 

Cilliers said naming people and holding them to account by arresting and proving that they were guilty in a court of law were two different things.

He pointed out a complete lack of coordination from South Africa’s intelligence at the most senior level which had resulted in the recommendations of the expert panel report not being implemented.

Cilliers pointed out that secrecy in State security was a huge challenge for the country.

He said the Zondo Commission of Inquiry reports clearly showed that the intelligence community in South Africa did not have enforcement capacity.

He further pointed out that government had consistently increased budget in the VIP Protection Units to protect politicians, but did not have the capacity expected to respond to events like the July unrest.

He said while the police were trying to restore calm, more could be done.

STRIKES IN SA

He said because of the country’s labour legislation and how it was regulated, unions were holding government to ransom, as was recently shown with the Eskom strike.

Since the 1970s labour unions had managed to negotiate a position of power and strength within the South African dispensation, he said.

“Even if the strikes are illegal, they are not criminal. We are caught between a rock and hard place in the way we have built a constitutional edifice where everybody can take you to court to account should you act in a way that violates their rights,” explained Cilliers.