South Africa 2021 - Looting
Cyril Ramaphosa was elected president of South Africa because of his promises to root out corruption. But with the arrest of ex-President Jacob Zuma, the most corrupt person in the country's history, the streets exploded in violent riots. Unrest broke out last week when Zuma handed himself over to authorities. The protests were fuelled further by frustration over poverty, inequality and the economic impact of Covid-19 restrictions. The show of anger to Zuma's jailing morphed into looting and violence not seen "since the end of Apartheid", according to current President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Crowds clashed with police and ransacked or burned shopping malls in South Africa on 14 July 2021, with at least 72 people reported dead as grievances unleashed by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma boiled over into the worst violence in years. Soldiers were deployed on to the streets as outnumbered police seemed helpless to prevent attacks on businesses in Zuma’s home province KwaZulu-Natal and in Gauteng province, where the country’s biggest city, Johannesburg, is located.
Zuma was sentenced in June 2021 for defying a constitutional court order to give evidence at an inquiry investigating high-level corruption during his nine years in office until 2018. The decision to jail him resulted from legal proceedings seen as a test of post-apartheid South Africa’s ability to enforce the rule of law, including against powerful politicians. But any confrontation with soldiers risked fuelling charges by Zuma and his supporters that they are victims of a politically motivated crackdown by Ramaphosa, his successor.
Looting started not even 48 hours after Jacob Zuma began his 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court, after failing to appear before the Zondo Commission, a major inquiry into corruption or "state capture." South Africa uses the term to describe how Zuma's administration allowed cronies and allies to use state resources to enrich themselves. Despite the corruption and mismanagement allegations, Zuma retains sizeable support in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Many have pointed to Zuma's incarceration as the spark for the violence.
The violence worsened as Zuma challenged his 15-month jail term in South Africa’s top court. Judgement was reserved until an unspecified date. The unrest broke out as South Africa’s economy struggled to emerge from the damage wrought by Africa’s worst Covid-19 epidemic, forcing it to repeatedly impose restrictions on businesses that hurt an already fragile recovery. The crisis may have widened the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. Growing joblessness has left people ever more desperate. Unemployment rose to a new record high of 32.6 percent in the first quarter this year.
Shocking images of smashed windows, destroyed metal security doors and stores stripped of anything worth stealing have gripped South Africa. Uniformed police officers stood by as looters made off with boxes of stolen goods, and small store owners picked through the wreckage of their businesses. Videos in which people showed off looted items made way for videos of the army patrolling the streets and new videos of looters flaunting loot.
Authorities blamed the widespread looting on organized crime. Ramaphosa lashed out at "opportunistic acts of criminality, with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and theft." The army would be deployed in to assist police in protect malls and shopping districts, he told the nation.
"No amount of unhappiness or personal circumstances from our people gives the right to anyone to loot, vandalise and do as they please and break the law," Police Minister Bheki Cele told a news conference, echoing sentiments expressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa overnight. The bodies of 10 people were found on 13 July 2021 after a stampede at a shopping centre in Soweto. The number of people arrested had risen to 1,234 while shops, petrol stations and government buildings have been forced to close.
Hundreds of looters raided warehouses and supermarkets in Durban, one of the busiest shipping terminals on the African continent and a major import-export hub. Outside a Durban warehouse of retailer Game, Reuters filmed looters stuffing cars with electronic goods and clothes. Inside, the floor was a wreckage of discarded packaging as the crowd systematically emptied the shelves. “What we are witnessing now are opportunistic acts of criminality, with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and theft,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in an address.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga characterizes the events of the last few days as overwhelming "disenchantment". Factors such as the COVID pandemic induced lockdowns causing an economic downturn and staggering unemployment among young people, have played a part. But for him, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is at the center. "The ANC has a legitimacy crisis. ANC leaders are very weak and this thing triggered within the ANC. It has lost credibility to an extent where I think it's just incapable of persuading people to stop wrongdoing," Mathekga told DW.
Violence and looting raged in South Africa for the sixth day running, stoking fears of food and fuel shortages as disruption to farming, manufacturing and oil refining began to bite amid the country’s worst unrest in decades. The deployment of 2,500 soldiers to support the overwhelmed South African police had so far failed to stop the rampant looting. The government was engaging with the consumer council to ensure there are no food shortages arising from rampant pillaging of shopping centres, malls and warehouses, cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said.
Major South African ports Durban and Richards Bay and a rail line connecting Durban with the Gauteng province where Johannesburg is located had been disrupted, according to state logistics group Transnet. Transnet said in a statement that force majeure had been declared on the NATCOR rail line. It added that it was deploying all available resources to avert commercial fuel operations being affected, after being served with a force majeure notice by the SAPREF refinery.
South Africa’s largest refinery SAPREF in the eastern port city of Durban was temporarily shut down as the country struggles with mass looting and the worst violence in years, according to an industry official. SAPREF has a nameplate capacity of 180,000 barrels per day and accounts for about 35 percent of the refining capacity in Africa’s most industrialised economy, a net importer of petroleum products.
South African authorities announced 15 July 2021 that the country's military was preparing to mobilize around 25,000 troops to help bring a measure of calm, following days of violence and looting that have swept through KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces. The country's defense minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, told parliament that troop contingents will be bolstered in the two provinces that have been most affected. Police and other security agencies have been battling to contain the situation, and have come under severe criticism for their apparent inability to restore order.
Ramaphosa on 16 July 2021 said security agencies had identified a number of people suspected of instigating the violence. The government said on that one of the suspected instigators had been arrested and 11 were under surveillance. In all, 2,203 people had been arrested during the unrest for various offences, including theft. “It is quite clear that all these incidents of unrest and looting were instigated, there were people who planned it and coordinated it,” he said. Ramaphosa believed the unrest was planned. "Using the pretext of a political grievance, those behind these acts have sought to provoke a popular insurrection," Ramaphosa said. “We are going after them, we have identified a good number of them, and we will not allow anarchy and mayhem to just unfold in our country,” Ramaphosa told reporters. Ramaphosa was under mounting pressure as only one of the suspected ringleaders of what officials have called an attempted “insurrection”, which caused an estimated $1bn of damage, had been arrested. When asked if he would shake up his ministers responsible for security he said: “We are reviewing the situation, yes.”
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