Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has pointed to controversial ANC figure Carl Niehaus as an instigator of the violence that swept across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

• Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has described the unrest in the country as a failed insurrection.
• He implied that top ANC figures could have been among the instigators of the unrest.
• He added that the government was reviewing evidence linked to the instigators.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has described the unrest in the country as “a high up accumulation of anarchy, at the highest level”.
In an interview with BBC HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur, Mbalula pointed to controversial ANC figure Carl Niehaus as an instigator of the violence that swept across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
“There are those we know at a political level are Carl Niehaus… and some other people around him,” Mbalula said.
However, he was not able to share evidence showing Niehaus’ involvement.
Police initially said 12 people were being investigated for instigating the unrest. Six people have been arrested. One of the alleged instigators, former DJ Ngizwe Mchunu, appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in Gauteng on Wednesday.
READ HERE | Police stations on high alert following intelligence that ‘instigators’ may attack
Mbalula said the unrest had all the characteristics of an “attempt at undermining the democratic state” and had been well-orchestrated.
“Was it an insurrection? No. Was there an attempt? Yes,” he said.
South Africa’s Transport Minister @MbalulaFikile says delayed response to recent violence in the country gave plotters “a field day”“But for all the days they had, the plotters, they couldn’t achieve that result” pic.twitter.com/ZcmSFWkzuQ
— BBC HARDtalk (@BBCHARDtalk) July 21, 2021
Mbalula said the evidence supporting the government’s theory that an insurrection was behind the unrest was “overwhelming”.
“There is evidence, and that’s being examined by the authorities.”
Mbalula admitted that state capture had weakened organs of state and their capacity to intervene, saying the government should have responded to the unrest sooner. However, he stressed, the unrest was isolated to only parts of the country, with the majority of South Africans just “standing by and watching”.
“They were defeated by the power of the people and later by the decisive action of the government,” he said.
The transport minister blamed societal ills such as unemployment, that played a role in the unrest, on the legacy of apartheid.