Hon Speaker, the intensity of service delivery protests has grown to the point where an impression can be formed that government has either lost or is losing control of the wave of violence that is spreading throughout the country. It appears that any disgruntled group of people can simply gather a mob together, exploit citizens' genuine grievances, and then go and loot shops and other businesses in the cities and towns. This leads to the destruction of commercial and public properties and threatens the security of citizens, tourists and the country as a whole. This needs to be condemned in the strongest terms possible.
It appears that government does not have a coherent approach on how to handle and prevent these violent protests, including the uprooting of the unruly elements that often infiltrate and exploit genuine grievances.
This gives the impression that the police and intelligence services are not adequately prepared and trained to deal with such situations. Yesterday, criminal elements were among the people who travelled into the city by train, taxi and bus to invade Cape Town. Why were the police and the intelligence services not in place to prevent the looting of businesses in the CBD? What guarantee do we have that this will not happen again? Thank you. [Applause.]