South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation on Friday evening by 8.30pm.
Acting minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Nthsavheni announced the “family meeting” during a cabinet briefing in the afternoon.
She said the president would address the nation after his oversight visit to KwaZulu-Natal amid ongoing unrest and riots in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Ramaphosa’s visit marks the first time the president was on the ground after days of looting left several retail centres, markets, warehouses, industrial parks in ruins.
Today’s ’s address would be Ramaphosa’s third to the nation this week. In his address on Monday, he pleaded with the perpetrators of violence to desist from it. Yet the unrest continued with looting spree across locations in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
At KwaMashu, Ramaphosa told crowds that attacks on shopping malls and warehouses were well orchestrated.
“It is quite clear that all these incidents of unrest and looting were instigated; there were people who planned it and co-ordinated it,” he said. He did not name the instigators.
While 117 have reportedly died since the riots began, security officers have apprehended over 2,200 people in connection to the violence.
The riots subsided by Thursday after law enforcement 25,000 military officers to hotspots policed by initial 2,500 quelling the unrest.