Conflict
Slow Justice After South Africa Rioting
A year after the worst unrest to hit South Africa in decades, only 50 people have been convicted over the violence, with the suspected masterminds and thousands of others still awaiting trial, the defense minister said Friday.
More than 350 people were killed during almost ten days of rioting that followed the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma last July.
The perceived lack of progress in bringing the perpetrators to justice has been a cause of frustration for relatives of the victims and many others across the country which has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
"(Authorities) continue to work around the clock investigating the crimes that were committed and building cases against those who were arrested," Defense Minister Thandi Modise said.
Modise added that more than 8,000 incidents were reported to the police leading to 5,500 arrests, with 2,435 cases still to reach court.
Modise said 3,300 cases were finalised through non-prosecution while 2,900 cases were unfounded. The remaining pending cases include 36 suspects linked to murders.
Recommendations to improve policing and intelligence were being implemented to better respond to future incidents, she added.
"We are determined not to allow this tragic episode... to repeat itself," she said.
What began as protests by Zuma's supporters quickly spiralled into riots in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg that saw malls and warehouses emptied and infrastructure destroyed.
An inquiry blamed glaring failures by police and intelligence agencies for the unrest that cost the economy some 50 billion rand ($3.3-billion).
"(Police were) caught with their pants down in 2021 and have done absolutely nothing since that date to prepare themselves for a repeat of last year's violence," Andrew Whitfield, a lawmaker with the opposition Democratic Alliance party, said in a statement.
At the time, President Cyril Ramaphosa called the violence an "insurrection".
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