POLITICAL analyst Aubrey Matshiqi has slammed the “excessive and heavy-handed” nature of the country’s law enforcement agencies after some of the students were reportedly beaten up by the police in Braamfontein on Sunday.
Matshiqi said the anger in the face of President Cyril Ramaphosa had shown the president was willing to do anything to protect himself.
On Monday, Police Minister Bheki Cele said South African security forces had arrested 87 people in the past 12 hours across the country over public violence before planned EFF protests.
Matshiqi was speaking to the SABC on Monday amid the national shutdown, which saw members of the EFF and other political formations march to the Union Buildings and other places across the country. The EFF and other political parties are calling for Ramaphosa to resign amid rolling power cuts and other social ills.
Matshiqi said: “The response of the security cluster and the president has been particularly disturbing. It seems to me the cohesive capacity of the ANC government and the post-apartheid state, which is a neo-liberal state, is greater than the capacity to deliver on the promise of a better life for all.
“The statements that have been made by members of the security cluster have been quite strident, and they reminded me of the days of PW Botha. When I watched President Cyril Ramaphosa make bellicose appeals for peace, I was reminded of 1985, when PW Botha declared the state of emergency, when he said, do not push us too far.”
Matshiqi added Ramaphosa’s utterances were akin to the dark days of apartheid.
“I had echoes of that when looking at the anger in the face of the president - an anger you seldom see in his face when he is confronted with the reality of citizens that are poor, are victims of inequality, and are going hungry. You ask yourself where this preparedness to do battle is when there should be a preparedness to do battle against poverty, unemployment, and other signs of underdevelopment," he said.
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints) reported in the media that of the 87 arrested, 41 were in Gauteng, 29 were in the North West province, and 15 were in the Free State. There have also been arrests in other provinces, such as Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape.
Parliament said in a statement on Sunday the South African military would deploy 3 474 soldiers for a month, until April 17, to prevent and combat crime in co-operation with the police.
The Star