President Cyril Ramaphosa must grow a spine and declare a State of Emergency, writes our award-winning columnist, Bhekisisa Mncube.

Mr President, His Excellency Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa, I said last week that Jacob Zuma’s judicial gerrymandering always ends in tears. But his children, concubines and the close-knit political gangsters also always remain shielded from the ensuing turmoil.

Sadly, by Wednesday, over 80 people (the political expendables) had died during the #FreeZuma looting/burning frenzy, which began after the incarceration of uBaba on a contempt of court matter. The insurgence is wilful, well-funded and well-orchestrated.

As a country, we are beyond the precipice. This despite the judiciary holding a firm line in recent days by dismissing Ace Magashule’s feeble challenge against the ANC step-aside rule, finding against the public protector on the wilful, inadvertently “lying” saga against you, Mr President, and of course, sending uBaba to the Estcourt Correctional Centre.

It’s now time for cabinet to step up to the plate and defend our democracy that’s under attack from the “axis of Msholozi”. These malcontents are hell-bent on causing mayhem and undermining the rule of law. The rule of law is foundational in our democracy as it secures both a non-arbitrary form of government and prevents the anarchy that we have witnessed this week. As I said earlier, the looting and burning is a manifestation of Zumanomics, an economic ideology that places expropriation without compensation at the centre.

We witnessed on live telly how the political minnows, mimicking their political gods, stole more than they needed. If you insist, Mr President, the master during the “nine wasted years” looted the organs of state, surrendered presidential powers to the immigrant rent-seeking family, and repurposed the state to feed egoism. The kingpins are money-grubbing warriors who do so in the shadows, but their underlings are left to their own devices to grab groceries, fridges and plasma televisions on live telly.

Mr President, it’s about time that you, as a head of state, employ a streetwise Stalingrad type strategy to recapture the key economic hubs of KwaZulu-Natal and pockets of Gauteng. As commander-in-chief, you must grow a robust spine and declare a State of Emergency.

The ZumaUnrest12 believed to be behind the widespread economic sabotage and sedition should be in leg irons by now. No more room for dillydallying. The 21 days of the State of Emergency must be used for close-quarter combat and direct assault against the self-professed Zuma Leaning Looting Army. By now, you should have authorised the South African Air Force to water-bomb the looting paratroopers in order to protect any food sources that have not been destroyed. The time has come for the gloves to come off.

Only the army has the dexterity required to restore law and order and help the overstretched and mostly incompetent police service. As part of reimposing the state’s authority, the Special Forces must round up uBaba’s alleged chief “personal” spy Thulani Dlomo and his band of merry men, and present them to the prosecution authorities, pronto.

The perpetrators/instigators/inciters of the violence and destruction of our economy must be dealt with harshly by any means necessary, including authorising the use of the fatal shot during unrest or arrests. The army must accompany the police as they launch a street-to-street, house-to-house, suburb-to-suburb, shack-to-shack hunt for the looters and wannabe insurgents and their kingpins.

If need be, speak to the Stellenbosch Mafia to fund the temporary employment of the 450 000 strong and heavily armed private security guards to be part of the reinforcements. As a matter of urgency, we must take back our streets, protect food sources and restart the disrupted value chains by all means necessary, Stalin style.

While employing the military strategy to deal with the insurgency, a two-pronged manoeuvre targeting the weaker Zuma sympathisers that are fuelling confusion, cheering the looters and spreading fake news, must be put into motion. As most of them are ANC pseudo-leaders and Zuma’s motley crew of senior civil servants, we must arrest them, seize their state-issued cellphones and laptops, and shut down their social-media pages. And once charged, oppose bail. Basically, we must keep them busy, going in and out of the courts.

As for the funders of the riots, the rogue agents and tenderpreneurs, we must turn off the tap. During a State of Emergency, no organ of state must pay any invoice except for critical supplies procured from other state institutions or the Stellenbosch Mafia.

Till next week, my man. “Send me”.

This Letter to Mahlamba Ndlopfu is written by Bhekisisa Mncube, a former senior Witness political journalist, the 2020 regional winner in the Opinion category of the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award, and author of The Love Diary of a Zulu Boy, a memoir.

This opinion piece was first published in the Witness/News24.