July unrest was an act of counter-revolution to destabilise the state – Ramaphosa

The ANC needs to undertake a political programme to prevent a recurrence of the July riots which cost the economy an estimated R50bn.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said this during his delivery of the political report at the party's 55th national conference taking place at Nasrec in Johannesburg.

In a stinging rebuke of those who have called the unrest the result of ANC divisions that saw supporters of former president Jacob Zuma plunge the country into instability, Ramaphosa labelled the destruction of property and looting as a counter-revolution.

Zuma, who was imprisoned for contempt of the Constitutional Court order to appear before the state capture commission, has previously thanked protesters involved in the July 2021 violent riots and looting for their stance.

His imprisonment at Estcourt Correctional Centre sparked eight days of civil unrest and looting.

Ramaphosa said it was incorrect to characterise the unrest as a manifestation of factionalism within the ANC.

"This was clearly an act of counter-revolution to destabilise our democracy and weaken the elected government," he said, to loud applause from the plenary on Friday. 

He said the public violence and destruction had a great impact on SA's sense of security and stability.

"In the wake of the unrest, we established an expert panel to examine the state's response to the violence, which found glaring deficiencies in several areas of our intelligence, security and policing capabilities. The recommendations of that panel are now being implemented," he said.

The unrest, which resulted in a large number of businesses being vandalised and looted, mainly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, left more than 350 people dead.

The government paid out R1.5bn to businesses that were affected by the riots and looting.

The panel appointed to probe the July unrest raised concern that the violence left behind a sense of uncertainty and vulnerability because of the ineffective response of the security services and an appetite for lawlessness by those who might feel emboldened by the apparent lack of state capacity.

Ramaphosa said his government has already taken steps to strengthen state security and law enforcement to ensure there would not be a repeat of last year's unrest.