[LISTEN] Duarte confirms message calling for ‘second uprising’
African National Congress (ANC) Jessie Duarte has confirmed that the party is aware of messages doing the rounds calling for the second phase of the social uprising.
Duarte was speaking at the ANC’s media briefing on Thursday after the party’s National Working Committee met on Monday.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) another SMS came out. We are studying it. We understand that it is a call for a second phase of protests and hopefully the planners will now understand that it cannot continue in the manner that they wish to.”
Last month Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal were subjected to the worst civil uprisings seen since the dawn of democracy.
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Over 300 people were killed as a result of the protest action, with thousands facing arrests including seven alleged instigators.
Duarte welcomed the arrests of the alleged masterminds but warned that those behind the protest action may still be planning a comeback.
“Our concern is that such a plan has been thwarted, it has failed. But it does not mean that the people who are planning are not continuing to plan and may have softened their approach but they certainly are not stopping what they are trying to do.
“We are hoping that very soon the law enforcement agencies will arrest the planners and the people who instigate violence in this manner and concentrate on what they have insitgated not just the six or seven thus far have appeared in court.”
