A joint report by the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic (CRL) Rights Commission and South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has found tensions between African and Indian communities in the Phoenix area, Durban.
According to the reports by both chapter nine institutions, this may have contributed to the July 2021 racial attacks in the area, that left 36 people killed and scores injured.
This emerged today when both institutions released joint reports into their investigations in Umhlanga.
The CRL Rights Commission found that there exists adversarial relationship between members of the African and Indian communities.
“The mistrust and suspicion of the Africans by the Indians allegedly led to the killings of Africans by Indians, as cited by some of the members of the community.
“Further, it was cited that the causes of the causes of unrest, were criminality, organised crime and inequality that exist in these communities.
“These mistrust and suspicions, make it difficult for the Phoenix and the surrounding communities to co-exist and foster the values of friendship, peace, humanity, tolerance based on equality, no discrimination, and free association,” said CRL Rights Commission Chairperson, David Mosoma.
He said a result of the above circumstances, the 2021 unrest, found a ready fertile ground to spread mistrust and suspicion among the communities.
The commission investigations also found that racism is prevalent in Phoenix, surrounding areas and has a negative impact on the lives of African people, in terms of economy, public service and participation.
“An inherent systemic prejudice exists, and it continues to marginalise African people, this provides a collective power of one group against the other.
“Racism is allegedly pervasively present in Phoenix and surrounding areas, and it has been brought to the attention of the CRL Rights commission and how this prevalence affects the co-existence of these communities,” added Mosoma.
The commission said during its engagements with various stakeholders, they raised concerns about the economic dominance of Indians in eThekwini, where they control, and manage the economy.
According to the complainants, they don’t have resources, whereas Phoenix has banks, garages, and supermarkets among others.
Meanwhile, in its report the SAHRC found that the unrests were well orchestrated.
“The blocking of the N3 and the N2, the calculated destruction of factories and warehouses, the organised disconnection of security and fire alarm systems, the attack on government communication facilities at the Durban Port, and the bombing and removal of ATM’s, together cannot be viewed as mutually distinct. These events point to a significant investment in the execution of the July unrest,” explained SAHRC Commissioner Philile Ntuli.
Despite widespread reports that the unrests were also orchestrated by former president Zuma, the commission said there’s no evidence to support the reports.
This after the Constitutional Court sentenced President Zuma to 15 months imprisonment for contempt of court, after failing to comply with the with the order of the State Capture Commission.
“The timing of the events of the July Unrest coincided with the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma.
“This caused an intertwining that blurred the lines between where one ended, and when the other started.
“However, the commission finds that while the timing of the events of the July Unrest coincided with the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma, it could not find evidence to link the two events,” highlighted Ntuli.
According to the commission, business, economy, socio-economic conditions in the country, also contributed to the unrest.
The reports were also scathing on the country’s law enforcement authorities, for failing to detect nor stop the unrests.
This includes the South African Police Service (SAPS), State Security Agency and Crime Intelligence.
They recommended that mechanisms and measures must be put in place to address the “rapid and timely flow of information in order to promote effective and efficient responses to national security threats.”
The commission also found out that there was misinformation to fuel the unrests, through the creation and dissemination of inflammatory content, which stoked fear, anger, and mobilised individuals towards disruptive actions.
“The government and the private sector have an urgent responsibility to address the socioeconomic inequalities and the inequalities of access to the economy which are differentiated along racial lines in patterns that are reflective of a racialised economy.
“The state must take steps to ensure socio-economic transformation of the racial dynamic of the economy,” explained Ntuli.
More than 350 people were killed during the eight-day unrest, which cost the economy about R50 billion.
Nearly 2000 stores were looted and damaged, resulting in about 160 000 job losses both in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
