Bheki Cele jumping up and down, frothing at the mouth at Ian Cameron instead of just doing his job is, but one example of the systemic failure of the state’s institutions, particularly law enforcement. The truth is, state officials are failing our people because of political agendas, leaving the country vulnerable to security threats.

Speaking at the recent Defend Our Democracy conference, Professor Sandy Africa, who was appointed to the high-level review panel on state security after the unrest in July last year, warned the conditions that led to the lawlessness still persisted.

“We can all agree that what happened could be reduced to the pervasiveness of weak state institutions failing at implementation and to uphold the law, and failed consequence management at all levels of public office,” Africa said.

It is not surprising that, a year later, on the anniversary of the unrest, the conditions that precipitated it still persist. Last year the Institute for Security Studies warned that SAPS leadership had been in crisis for more than a decade and crime intelligence was not functioning optimally, mostly due to political interference, which was why the authorities had not been able to circumvent the unrest.

State institutions have proved to be impotent in the face of xenophobic violence brazenly led by Operation Dudula, trucks blockading key transport routes in Mpumalanga, delays and non-payment of Social Relief of Distress grants, continuing racial tensions across the country and the threat of a national shutdown by the South African Federation of Trade Unions because of the electricity crisis, unemployment and the rising cost of living. These are conditions that breed the instrumentalisation of poor people as a result of increasingly unbearable socioeconomic conditions.

In a functional democracy, state security should be able to read these increasing tensions that threaten to destabilise the country and advise the leadership of the relevant government institutions to act to mitigate the impending explosion.

The people-centric notion of state security, tabled by Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele in May this year, envisaged that communities should work with security agencies. However, for this to happen there would need to be mutual trust.

For as long as people do not trust that state institutions have their best interests at heart, fostering such a relationship will be an uphill battle.

For as long as the government continues to put people last and officials use state institutions for personal financial and political gain while people languish in deplorable poverty and unemployment, the state’s security will continue to be vulnerable.

Though violence can never be condoned, poor people resort to violence from a position of powerlessness in the face of an un­caring and out-of-touch state. In the words of former secretary-general of the United Nations Kofi Annan: “Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere.” DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.