LISTEN | SAHRC hearing on July 2021 riots — first week

The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) began the National Investigative Hearing into the July unrest on Monday.

After the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma in July, demonstrators took to the streets to stage protests in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng that quickly turned into looting of businesses and riots that claimed the lives of more than 300 people.

Damage to businesses was estimated to have amounted to billions of rand. SA Special Risk Insurance Association (Sasria) MD Cedric Masondo said on Monday that claims arising from the riots amounted to R32bn.

Listen to some of this week's highlights:

The SAHRC panel will report and make findings and recommendations on:

• the causes of the unrest;
• the alleged racially motivated attacks and killings;
• apparent lapses in law enforcement by state security agencies, particularly the police, and the role of private security companies; and 
• the social, economic, spatial, and political factors prevalent in the affected areas and the extent to which these played a role.

High-profile government officials, among others, are expected to testify next week.

The hearings will continue until December 3.

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