Gauteng deputy police commissioner Major General Daniel Mthombeni said he received no intelligence on the violence that gripped the province in July last year.

He testified on Tuesday on the second day of the Gauteng leg of the South African Human Rights Commission's hearings into the July unrest.

Mthombeni said while Gauteng police had no intelligence on the July unrest, they had received information ahead of the Constitutional Court judgment sending former president Jacob Zuma to prison.

Last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma had to go to prison for not appearing before the State Capture Inquiry. Immediately after his incarceration, violence broke out in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, resulting in more than 300 deaths.

At the time of the unrest, Mthombeni was the acting provincial police commissioner because Lieutenant General Elias Mawela was on sick leave.

On Tuesday, Mthombeni's testimony was similar to that of Mawela, who earlier told the commission he had received no intelligence on the violence in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

"There was no formal intelligence report that I received," Mthombeni said.

He said despite monthly meetings to discuss security in the province, there was no warning about the unrest. But they received one related to the Constitutional Court decision on Zuma. 

"[With regards to] early warning, one did not receive it prior to the unrest in Gauteng. The essence of the matter is that the intelligence related to the Constitutional Court hearing; we, as a province, received that. The ruling was supposed to be made at ConCourt, and we put a plan [in place]. We established a joint operations centre within that area.

"That one we planned and executed perfectly. There was information related to the ConCourt judgment given to us."

On why he hadn't received any information on the unrest, Mthombeni said: "I wouldn't know because the intelligence has to be gathered. Maybe it was a lack of gathering by people on the ground. Truly, it was not sent to me prior the public unrest."

He said there had been informal indicators of looming violence.

"Some of the information about the instigators I got from the premier of Gauteng [David Makhura]. I had to link up to the intelligence system, and it was successful."

Mthombeni said Makhura had provided him with information on a video by former radio DJ Ngizwe Mchunu.

Mchunu has been charged with inciting public violence and contravening the Disaster Management Act. He is alleged to have incited violence during a briefing at a Bryanston hotel on 11 July, just days after Zuma's arrest.

On Monday, Police Minister Bheki Cele testified that he received information on the 12 alleged instigators from a member of the public. 

Some of the alleged social media accounts included that of Twitter user "Sphithiphithi Evaluator", who has since been unmasked in court as Zamaswazi Majozi.

She was arrested last year and charged with incitement to commit violence.

The violence started in KwaZulu-Natal before spreading to Gauteng. The commission asked Mthombeni on Tuesday why the province had not been better prepared.

"We tried what we could under those circumstances. We also tried to make sure that people who … were committing the crimes were arrested. The collaborations we had with the community, taxi associations … it could have been worse," he said.