South Africa: Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Policing Public Violence in South Africa

analysis

Shortly after the powerful National Executive Council (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) ended its first meeting of 2013, Secretary General Gwede Mantashe held a media conference to report back on the key decisions taken.

According to a report in the City Press on 4 February 2013, he warned citizens that, 'by participating in violent protests you are actively destroying your right to protest because you are inviting the police to be there, while it is not their place'. He then said that the NEC had 'directed the state to find ways and implementable means as a matter of urgency to deal with the twin phenomenon of violent strikes and violent community protests'. Speaking after him, the head of the ANC elections committee Ngoako Ramathlodi said that the government would use an 'iron fist' to deal with the 'seas of anarchy' emerging in South Africa in the form of violent strikes and service delivery protests.

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