12 July 2021

The South African Communist Party (SACP) denounces the acts of violence and criminality unleashed in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng Province. We are calling upon those who have engaged in these acts of human rights violation to refrain with immediate effect, observe the COVID-19 preventative protocols, and protect life. In the same vein, the SACP calls upon the state to discharge its constitutional obligation to protect all law-abiding citizens and other nationals in South Africa regardless of their countries of origin, in keeping with our constitution. Equally, the possessions and property of all law-abiding citizens and other nationals in our country must be protected.

The supremacy of our constitution and the rule of law based on it should prevail. This includes the principle flowing from the Freedom Charter that no one is above the law. The constitution is a product of our decades-long liberation struggle. No one must be allowed to replace it with lawlessness, criminality, violence, and demands that amount to violation of our democratically adopted constitution and based on it the other law of the republic.

The state has the duty to hold to account those engaging in the acts of violence and criminality, including but not limited to arson, looting, destruction of infrastructure, intimidation, and violation of the human rights of others regardless of their nationality. Those involved in inciting and co-ordinating these and other acts of criminality and human rights violation through media networks and other avenues must be held to account as well.

Elements engaging in these acts of violence and violation of the human rights of others are a tiny minority of our approximately 60 million strong population. The majority of the people in our country from all backgrounds disapprove of the violence and other human rights violations.