Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said while the situation is being monitored, there was no need to deploy the army to the country’s capital city as yet.
Political violence in Tshwane continued yesterday, where ANC members have gone on a rampage, shutting down several parts of the metro.
Residents of Atteridgeville have lashed out at the ANC’s decision to put forward Thoko Didiza as mayoral candidate, saying a Zulu person from KZN cannot be brought in to lead them.
The violent fallout over the announcement claimed the life of Simon Modihe on Sunday night after two groups supporting different mayoral candidates clashed.
The father of two young children was shot.
Mapisa-Nqakula said since the defence force was the country’s “last line of defence”, government would first exhaust the capacity of law enforcement agencies, more specifically the SA Police Service.
Cops have been drafted in from other areas to quell the riots that have seen vehicles being torched‚ businesses ransacked and roads blocked with boulders.
Violence has rocked Pretoria since Sunday, as news filtered in that former cabinet minister Didiza would be named as the city’s mayoral candidate for the ANC in the August 3 polls, replacing popular Tshwane Mayor and ANC regional chairperson Kgosientso Ramokgopa.