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The
violence was sparked by the imprisonment of former president
Jacob Zuma for defying a court order to testify at a corruption
inquiry and fanned by anger over the poverty and inequality that
persist almost three decades after the end of apartheid.
The government deployed soldiers to restore calm, but around 50
billion rand ($3.2 billion) of damage was caused by one estimate
as shops were ransacked and key infrastructure targeted.
President Cyril Ramaphosa tasked an expert panel with analysing
his government's preparedness and reaction. He is expected on
Thursday to say what action the government will take in response
to the report.
"There was a significant intelligence failure to anticipate,
prevent or disrupt the planned and orchestrated violence," the
report by the experts concluded.
"The combination of poorly equipped police stations and
inadequately trained police resulted in the police being
overwhelmed and not being able to deploy sufficient and properly
trained and equipped officers," it added.
The experts said the executive branch of government, which
comprises the president and his cabinet of ministers, "carries
some of the blame too and must take responsibility for its lapse
of leadership".
The report's authors said they had been told several times that
"what appears to be factional battles in the African National
Congress (ANC) have become a serious source of instability in
the country".
Ramaphosa and Zuma are from opposing factions in the ANC, which
holds a leadership contest late this year at which Ramaphosa is
expected to seek re-election.
Ramaphosa's office said he would in a state of the nation
address on Thursday spell out the first steps his government
would take to act on the report's findings.
($1 = 15.5208 rand)
(Reporting by Alexander Winning, Editing by William Maclean)
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