The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is expected to continue with the second leg of the national investigative hearings into the July 2021 unrest which erupted mainly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The unrest caused billions of rand in damage to infrastructure and businesses, while hundreds of lives were lost during the violence that erupted.
The SAHRC said this leg of the hearings would focus on Gauteng, but more evidence would also be presented from the perspective of KwaZulu-Natal.
The hearing panel is due to hear testimony from survivors, various community members as well as industry players in commerce, private security and state officials.
Former state security minister Ayanda Dlodlo was in the hot seat on Tuesday afternoon. Dlodlo told the SAHRC that she had not failed in her duties as she gave information “to the relevant structures that were tasked with passing on information to ministers”.
She said it was not her fault that those structures had failed in their duties.
Dlodlo said those at the State Security Agency (SSA) did all they could under the circumstances and she did not take lightly, suggestions that the agency did not cooperate with other law enforcement units.
“From the beginning to the end I never said I gave information to a particular minister. I was very clear, even from our first media briefing that I, as SSA, give intelligence to structures. Now, a minister is not a structure, so you cannot go publicly and say ‘no, she never gave me information’. You are not a structure and that is why I did not give you information. The information goes to structures that are responsible for enforcement and that is what happened,” she said.
“The SAPS is responsible for crime intelligence. I would never have, as Ayanda, stood and said, ‘Yeah, SAPS CI did not give me information.’ They have no business to give me information. I get information from my own intelligence service, as per the law, together with the deputy minister. The minister of defence receives information from defence intelligence, the minister of police receives information from crime intelligence. Ayanda or SSA was not going to provide any intelligence to any of the ministers.”
Dlodlo added that the SSA had actually forewarned the police, ministers and the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints) of the impending civil unrest in both provinces from as early as December 2020.
She said between May 2021 and the start of the riots, the agency issued a few red alerts, as well as some orange and yellow alerts as well. All those alerts went to the relevant structures to assist them to plan.
“So, the SSA did warn about growing instability that undermined the authority of the state,” Dlodlo added.
The hearings continue.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Political Bureau