EDITORIAL | Ayanda Dlodlo and Bheki Cele have some questions to answer

It started ostensibly as a protest against the imprisonment of Jacob Zuma for defying a Constitutional Court order to appear before the state capture commission. But what the country is now dealing with is an orchestrated orgy of criminal violence, looting and the destruction of property on an unprecedented scale.

Contrary to what his supporters believe, the legal merits of the former president’s case are best left to the courts, where they have been the subject of further ventilation.

In the immediate term, the more critical question from the nation is how and why law-enforcement agencies allowed the situation to occur in the first place?

It would be understandable if we were dealing with a sudden, spontaneous outbreak of violence which was unexpected. Or one which was organised secretly.

In this case, the instigators of the mayhem did not hide their intentions. These were telegraphed regularly to the public and authorities months before this weekend’s violent eruption. Zuma himself warned as much when addressing supporters at his Nkandla home before his arrest last week.

Yet despite all indications of a possible disturbance if he were indeed jailed, the law-enforcement agencies seem to have been caught napping, woefully unprepared in the face of the worst outbreak of public violence since the advent of democracy.

Minister of police Bheki Cele must explain what information crime intelligence had and what actions the police took proactively to prevent the threat and deal effectively with it once it started unfolding.

Questions must now be asked of the minister of state security, Ayanda Dlodlo, whose job entails the gathering of intelligence on activities that may pose a threat to the stability of the country and the safety of its people.

South Africans will want to know what the minister knew about the looming threat and what she did about it. If she did not know, does she deserve to stay in the post she occupies?

Similarly, the minister of police, Bheki Cele, must explain what information crime intelligence had and what actions the police took proactively to prevent the threat and deal effectively with it once it started unfolding.

The minister must also account for why, days after the violence and the looting started, police were still on the back foot, giving the rioters free reign.

The state has a duty, using the security forces, to hold the line between the law and criminality; between law-abiding citizens and those who break the law and endanger life and property, irrespective of their cause. It is supposed to be the guarantor of our democracy.

Failing to discharge that duty encourages a culture of impunity in society, becoming an accessory to the erosion and eventual destruction of that democracy.

While cabinet’s decision to deploy the army in support of the seemingly under-capacitated police is to be welcomed, the nation is justified in demanding answers to government’s glacial and costly response to the crisis.