Violence & looting 'exposed' our state security agencies, says Makhura

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has added his voice to those who believe state security was caught napping ahead of the recent wave of looting and violence. 

Makhura addressed a meeting of civil society groups on Tuesday. 

More than 200 people died during the unrest.

Police have also arrested more than 2000 people in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Nata. 

"I think there has been significant exposure of the inadequacies, the incoherence, and I don't want to call it lack of capacity of state security," Makhura said.

"There is something else in our state security institutions that has gone terribly wrong and that requires national attention." 

Makhura believes the high levels of poverty in some communities might also have been a contributing factor.

"Women who participated in the looting were largely taking food.

"A lot of these young people are readily available to also be ready for any type of action, including a series of violent protests we have seen, and young people have been in the forefront.

"They are not actively involved in the economy in particular and if you look at the youth participation has been in the looting and some of the areas looted are bottle stores in almost every area." 

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