This was heard during a dialogue to unpack the National Investigative Hearing Report into the July 2021 unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

Initially released in January 2024 in KwaZulu Natal, the July Unrest Report was relaunched again on Friday morning in Gauteng.

It focused on the Gauteng outcomes as the province was severely impacted by the violence and looting. The unrest resulted in over 350 casualties and extensive damage to businesses and shopping centres.

In July 2021, KZN and Gauteng, descended into chaos. This as a wave of civil unrest was sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court.

The unrest began in KZN on the 9th of July and spread to Gauteng on the 11th, resulting in widespread looting and destruction of property. The unrest also sparked a race war in some areas, particularly in Phoenix, north of Durban.

SAHRC Commissioner Tshepo Madlingozi says it’s worrying that there is a very high chance that there could be a repeat of the violent unrest in the future.

“There is a risk of recurrence of what happened in July 2021, there is a risk of recurrence. There is a risk because the causes of that July unrest are still with us. The causes of impoverishment of large sectors of society and the idea and the fact that many people don’t feel a sense of belonging is still there. So, the risk of recurrence is still there.”

The commission’s Martinah Hunter-Parsonage says the deteriorating socio-economic conditions in South Africa is what led to the unrest spreading so fast across the country.

“The commission made the following findings that the socio-economic conditions were what former Minister Ebrahim Patel described as the dry tinder, while there was organisation to some level, the unrest was able to spread as far and quickly as it did because of socio-economic conditions in the country. And it not just about poverty, sanitation and housing but the things the commission looked at and focused on was one that given our levels of unemployment and access to education and we have young people in society who don’t have an occupation or something to keep them entertained, direct their anger elsewhere so they get caught up with the looting and go around with the crown mentality.”

Hunter-Parsonage says the commission also found that South African Police Service failed in their basic mandate to detect the planning and execution of the violent unrest and looting.

“The commission made extensive findings on the lack of policing but just to focus on the fault lines and the issue of socio-economic rights and the intersection of policing and being in the space of un-freedom it becomes clear that we are struggling to undo the apartheid policing style. While we have black police, our police system is still on state security and not on human security, it is focused on protecting the state and not on human beings.”