Anthony Turton writes that this week's violence showed a reinvigorated civil society and government whose time in power is nearing its end.
After a 24 hour orgy of violence, I sat alone in my whale watching room to reflect as I read the many messages that have been sent to me by an informal network. I paused to gather my thoughts before the new day dawned wondering what that new sunrise would bring?
We now sit with a stark reality that everyone has to deal with, so let me distil, at least for my own use, the essence of what our next faltering steps will be.
The firestorm of violence that engulfed us was no surprise. We have seen all the warning signs, and were even sent clear unambiguous messages of what was to hit us on Monday morning. Few took heed, and many even dispelled these messages as being the usual drivel from the EFF.
Well they weren't. In fact the EFF was nowhere to be seen in the day of mayhem. But neither were any elected leaders, or the security forces they command. The Man in the Hat became invisible, just like his police force, who ran out of ammunition where they were present, and had to be resupplied by civilian networks.
Yes this is true. A private security contractor had to procure front line ammunition for the embattled police force, because they had run out early in the day. So let us unpack this single observation so we can learn from it.
Leadership crisis
We have a leadership vacuum in the country. People in leadership positions, like the Man in the Hat, are there only because of political connections, and not because they have the core skills to do the job. Same with the bloated civil service they command, with too many generals, all unable to plan for, and procure the stuff that's really needed. Like ammunition.
That same leadership vacuum is present in our intelligence service. If I could collect credible information through my informal network, without any resources at my disposal, and then make reasonably accurate forecasts about what to expect, then why can't they with their bloated staff complement and billion rand budget squandered on inappropriate procurement and self-enrichment schemes?
Which brings me back to the core issue - supply chain management. The mayhem wiped out our supply chain in KwaZulu-Natal. Last week it was there, but today its gone. That complex web of transactions that moves goods across the landscape, like an army of ants on a single minded mission, each moving their package relentlessly throughout the colony of ants. Our network is now gone.
We are now rapidly starting to encounter shortages of crucial goods like fuel for motor vehicles, food for hungry stomachs, medication for the sick, cash to grease the wheels of trade and spare parts to keep the machinery of commerce going.
ATMs are gone, so we will rapidly run out of cash. Grocery stores have been destroyed, so even if they can procure goods from the warehouses now burned to the ground, they will be unable to transact because the tills are gone and the point of payment card machines destroyed. The retail malls have been so destroyed that it will take months to rebuild them. More importantly, the Clicks and Dischem pharmacy chains that are the most efficient delivery vehicles for the national vaccine rollout, are simply no more.
What about the leadership issue? How might this unfold in the days to come?
What I witnessed since Monday tells us a lot, so let me distil the essence. In the beginning the mob was in control. Yes they were clearly in control as they marched relentlessly forward like an army ant formation advancing through the jungle. They devoured all before them and they were unstoppable. But importantly, they were controlled and focused. There was a clearly defined plan, so command and control is alive and well, but invisible. They knew when to hit designated targets. They knew where the police were absent. They knew where shopping mall security was most vulnerable. They were collectively acting as part of a plan.
Who are those central but invisible command and control people? Will our intelligence services figure this out?
Rapid reaction from civil society
But the other thing that was clearly visible was the rapid way that civil society responded to the communal threat. Groups of citizens rapidly formed into militia, and mostly acted with restraint and to great effect. I don't know the final numbers, but my gut feel is that more arrests were made by citizens acting in well organised groups, than by the police.
I also note that some of the militia went beyond the act of arrest, and meted out instantaneous justice. Its unclear what the body count is, but certainly there were many. Some shot, some beaten and some even hacked to pieces by machete. I have seen credible video evidence across this entire range.
But the core lesson is that civil society responded by organising themselves, rapidly and effectively. We will now see the dawn of a new era, where those civil groups become better organised than the government, which has clearly failed. In effect we had no government because while this mayhem was playing out, Jesse Duarte gave a press briefing about an NEC meeting pretending to still be in control.
The governing party has simply lost control. The civil service is so dysfunctional as to be a liability now easily bypassed by an increasingly confident and effective civil society.
Clearly, attempts by government to disarm civilians will fail. Of this I am certain. Just as certain as I am about the emergence of self organised militia centred on credible leadership and existing networks of security force personnel that have been sidelined by government purges.
This is the real New Dawn. Not the feeble message spewed out by the now embattled and increasingly illegitimate governing party. Their days are numbered.
Will we now see the emergence of an invigorated moderate middle, united by core values but free of the shackles of past prejudice and racially defined bias?
Or will the rabble rise in a boiling froth of anger, purging the governing elite with a vengeance, just as past revolutions ultimately consumed themselves with relentless waves of counter-revolution?
We live in profoundly uncertain times, but the vibrancy of civil society was clearly demonstrated, as loose molecules came together to form militia capable of clawing back control in the vaccum left by an incompetent governing elite whose time is nearly over.
- Prof Anthony Turton is an Affiliated Professor in the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State (UFS). He specialises in strategic planning, transboundary water resource management, policy and institutional issues, conflict resolution (mitigation), political risk assessment for large infrastructural projects, and research programme design. He is also the Director of Nanodyn Systems Pty Ltd.
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