Cape Town - Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Nomalungelo Gina has refused to be drawn on whether the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July was due to ANC’s factional battles, saying that was in the hands of the police.
She said the investigations by the police would determine what caused the violence and looting in the two provinces in July.
She said from her position she would not say what were the root causes as the investigations have not determined that.
Gina was answering questions in the National Council of Provinces yesterday on the financial impact of the unrest.
But the DA and EFF pointed to the ANC factional battles as one of the major reasons.
They said the party’s internal ructions have now spilt into the public domain with the violence breaking out.
But Gina said she would not say whether that was true or not as the investigations have not been concluded.
She said the SAPS was handling the investigations.
“I know there was a question (whether) do I agree it was due to ANC factional matters, really as I am saying SAPS is dealing with those issues. It’s one area I cannot say it was ANC factions and so forth. I don’t agree with that, I don’t deny it but we are waiting for the investigations. We are waiting for the engagements led by the SAPS to let us know exactly what happened, what triggered that so that we can all sit down here and discuss at this level without assumptions but knowing exactly what triggered the whole thing that happened,” said Gina.
“It’s one thing to say I agree, I don’t agree. Let us wait for the processes to unfold. Let us get to the bottom of what triggered the events in July so that we can take it from there to say in future what it is that we can do to prevent such situations,” said Gina.
She added that government has been trying to rebuild thousands of businesses that were ravaged during the violence and they have paid out billions of rand to get them revived.
She said her department had set aside R3.5 billion to fix the businesses and in particular small businesses in the townships.
Already out of that R3.5bn a total of R1.2bn has been disbursed, said Gina.
The country was also talking to some of the investors to put their money back into the economy after the riots.
Gina said the investors were willing to throw their weight behind South Africa and invest their funds again.
Political Bureau