SA’s key crime intelligence structure had been gutted, rendering it ineffective in adequately predicting — and then curtailing, let alone stopping — the deadly July 2021 riots that left more than 300 dead and R50bn wiped from the country’s economy.

This is according to the expert panel tasked with doing a deep dive into the unrest and suggesting solutions to stop history repeating itself. President Cyril Ramaphosa released the report publicly on Monday...