Imtiaz Sooliman – Insightful, fearless Gift of the Givers founder on SAs looting locusts

Well, most South Africans have heard of gift of the givers and

the founder and the man who drives at Dr Imtiaz Suleiman, MTS, maybe

just by way of background. There's quite a lot of rumor circulating

social media and elsewhere that your warehouse was looted. Well,

actually, well, it's not true number one, and secondly, it's

actually not my waist either. It's a warehouse that was used by a

person who was a volunteer, a business person who used to work

with us. He used to do deliveries and distributions. He would call

us and say, people I need here. Can you help? So we would send him

supplies in advance. He would park it off in that warehouse, and

within a day or two, he would deliver it. Now, unfortunately, in

January this year, the volunteer, his brother and his father, all

three second to covid, I lost all three of them, and as a result of

that, you know, we couldn't use the warehouse anymore. We had no

surprise in there, but it actually wasn't always. The tragedy of this

all is that yet serve the people so well, and yet people found it

appropriate to come and loot the warehouse, and eventually they

wouldn't burn it. How are you seeing this developing from here?

Clearly, people who are religious will think there has to be a

purpose, there has to be some reason for all of this, which is

being visited upon us. And I fascinated to hear your thoughts.

Well, you have to look at it. There's four categories of people

involved in this. The one is the pro Zoma camp, who said they are

doing setting this thing up because it's a political issue

within the ANC. Then came the criminal element, the looters, the

ones who took this as an opportunity fairly came the most

dangerous of all, the agent provocateurs. This thing was not

done spontaneously. This is well double, well organized, and it's

clear. I call these people traitors. They are people who are

trying to destabilize the country. Nobody attacks pharmaceutical

industries which have people. Nobody burns ambulances and

attacks paramedics. Nobody stops hospital workers and nurses to go

to hospital to give assistance to people of all races. Everything

done here was negative in the interest of South Africa, and if

you stay this, doing this for the people of South Africa, there's

something seriously wrong with your narrative. So you are the

traitors. And the fourth one is cannon fodder, ordinary people who

are hungry. Many of them are hungry. That's a fact. We witness

that over the last 15 months and opportunists guys are driving

Mercedes, BMWs, four by fours, rushing into catching cashing on

the TVs and all those kind of items, pure opportunist, but not

dangerous. And you have a woman with a child, and all types of

people you know, students, university students, all cashing

in an opportunity. Again, not violent people, but opportunistic

in what has happened. Now, if you look at all this, the narrative

started when, when people started defending themselves, where the

government has dismally failed its people and its citizens, you find

people started defending themselves, and the third force

then uses that as an opportunity to divide and rule and create the

hype around race and bringing race conflict to support the aim,

fortunately For the country itself and the maturity of the people on

the ground and several leaders you know among the community from all

race groups stood up and we're not going to accept this. You would

find the black, white, Indian and colored will stand together and

say, We defend this. This is not acceptable. People in different

parts of the country said, This is not acceptable. And what was the

turning point when San Carco and the taxi Association Association

said, We will not allow this to happen. No more malls are going to

be to be brought to be attacked. Your question is, from a religious

point of view, what has happened? It has united South Africans in an

incredible way. I've never seen so much of goodwill and support for

each other. Where communities who looted people are saying, even

among those communities the hungry people, we need to go back and

help them, where people are so forgiving and wanting to help each

other, and said, We need to stand with each other, make things

available, go to the informal settlement, see what their needs

are. Help. You know, an informal set of people will come forward

and said, Do you want us to be part of the very aid? Do you want

us to help and protect, to make sure looters don't come inside?

Yeah, it's an incredible sport. I've never seen anything in this

my 29 years of working disaster in South Africa. You.