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President Cyril Ramaphosa must urgently announce the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to help restore law and order in the face of ongoing violence and damage to public and private property that has characterized protests in Kwa-Zulu Natal. 

Reports from this morning indicate that this lawlessness has spread to Gauteng, with reports of sporadic violence in Johannesburg and its surroundings.

The President, who has been missing in action, cannot play the fiddle while South Africa burns. 

Ramaphosa's inaction on the lawlessness gripping Kwa-Zulu Natal, and now Gauteng, will hurt the rule of law, peace-loving and law-abiding South Africans, and our ailing economy. The ongoing destruction of businesses and property will end jobs for many of our people. With businesses already struggling to stay open because of the impact of COVID-19 and the state-imposed lockdown, Ramaphosa cannot let them pay for his inaction.  

The present lawlessness will continue to spread as long as it is met with weak, indecisive leadership that is more interested in managing factional ANC tensions than ensuing the country's wellbeing. No nation can function, and no economy can grow, in a state of chaos and anarchy.

Tonight, South Africans expect Cyril Ramaphosa to address the crises faced by our nation. Ramaphosa must make full use of his address to take us into his confidence and speak to the many challenges he has avoided at all costs. He must use this opportunity to:

Announce the deployment of the SANDF to support law enforcement efforts in the face of rising violence;

Establish special courts to expeditiously deal with this recent spate of violence; 

Call for calm and condemn acts of violence and damage to public and private property that have characterized protests in KZN, and now, Gauteng.

Make public the findings of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report on Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize. South Africans deserve to know the depth of his involvement in the allegedly corrupt contract awarded by his department to Digital Vibes; and

Provide a clear plan for how the government will turn around our failing vaccine roll-out programme. The government needs to procure more vaccines on time, ensuring these are safe, and increase access to vaccines through more vaccination sites across communities.

We are unequivocal in our belief that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ANC government continue to let down ordinary South Africans. 

The only way to end the ANC’s criminal neglect of our people is to vote them out in the upcoming Local Government Elections and again in the National Government Elections of 2024. 

Through our decisive commitment to ethical leadership and the rule of law, an ActionSA government would never let this sad state of affairs come to pass. ActionSA stands ready to provide an alternative to the broken political system that has failed our people.

Issued by ActionSA