South Africa experienced violent civil unrest, mainly in parts of the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, from 8 July 2021 until it was brought under control around 17 July 2021. The unrest was characterised by social media mobilisation leading to looting, destruction of property and the disruption of economic activity. At the end of that orgy of violence thousands of people were injured, an estimated 354 dead and over R50 billion lost to the economy.

On 5 August 2021, with the country still reeling from the violence, the President of the Republic, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, announced changes to his Executive. He also announced the appointment of an Expert Panel (“the Panel”) to review South Africa’s response to the unrest. More directly, the Panel was required to review South Africa’s preparedness and shortcomings in responding to the unrest. The Panel was chaired by Professor Sandy Africa, with Advocate Mojankunyane Gumbi and Mr Silumko Sokupa as its other members.

Mr. Michael Sarjoo was appointed as the Secretary to the Panel and accompanied it throughout the process. The Presidency provided administrative and logistical support without which the Panel would have been unable to do its work.