President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on individuals to help with food relief, support businesses in distress and to also join small volunteer teams that are helping to clean up affected communities.

This in the wake of the violent protests that engulfed parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last week.

Ramaphosa stated that businesses have been destroyed and livelihoods lost at a time when citizens were already feeling the strain of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As we work to stabilise the country and secure essential supplies and infrastructure, we must work together to mitigate the effects of this unrest on society’s most vulnerable,” he said.

Despite the unrest, South Africans observed Nelson Mandela Day on Sunday, which Ramaphosa described as being celebrated “not as country on its knees, but as a people who collectively embody the spirit of Nelson Mandela, perhaps as never before”.

He said while people take up the call to help those in distress, it must be done safely as the country was still in the grip of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

Ramaphosa urged people to get vaccinated to secure the health of the country, adding that, at this time, the greatest service to fellow men and women is to get vaccinated.

More than 1-million citizens in the 35 to 49 category have registered for vaccinations last week.

Ramaphosa said this record registration, taking place in a week when the country was experiencing such mayhem, says a great deal about South Africa’s national character.

The President reminded citizens that they were not only rebuilding the country after the destruction of the past week but that they were rebuilding after the devastation of decades of dispossession and exploitation.

“The events of the last week are a stark reminder of how deep the problems are and how far we still have to go. These events must propel us to act with greater purpose and speed. We should continuously strive to give true meaning to the promise of equality and freedom for all by making every day Nelson Mandela Day, more now than ever,” Ramaphosa said.