After Zuma imprisonment: violence and looting in South Africa

In South Africa, protests against the imprisonment of ex-President Zuma have turned into serious violence. There are more than 30 dead and many injured, shopping malls on fire and highways blocked.

Political protests have turned into unrest in two provinces of South Africa, in eastern Kwazulu-Natal and northeastern Gauteng.

Shops looted, highways blocked, factories in flames – shocking scenes took place. Crowds came into shopping malls, on foot and in their cars, and just took what they wanted – completely unrestricted. In a tire store in Durban, for example, looters also filmed taking complete wheels and car rims off the shelves.

Powerless police

The security forces and the police were powerless, if only because they were mercilessly outnumbered. In front of live cameras on TV, people had their hands full with brand new products.

A reporter from Soweto said: “There are so many people who come and take what they can carry. We have seen people with groceries or with alcohol. People open every shop, go in, here we see someone with one Flat-screen TVs. People come out of the supermarket with blankets and all sorts of things, even refrigerators.

Many shopping centers closed their gates as a precaution, shops literally barricaded their shop windows, and neighbors warned each other not to go into the city centers.

Imtiaz Syad from Durban describes how he perceived the day. He is involved in a citizens’ forum. “The police are definitely overwhelmed. They couldn’t tell us what to do next. In the city center, there are students who live in the dormitories. They loot clothing and shoe stores,” said Syad. “Wherever there are poor settlements, people help themselves in grocery and liquor stores, and a few furniture stores in the center have also been looted.”

President addresses the people

President Cyril Ramaphosa stressed in a televised address that calm, law and order must be restored quickly. “The path of violence, looting and anarchy only leads to more violence, devastation and suffering, or at least to more poverty, more unemployment and the loss of even more innocent lives. We South Africans are not like that, we are not like that”, said Ramaphosa.

It all started with protests against the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma. He was convicted of disobeying the court and began his 15-month prison sentence last Wednesday.

The political protests against it had quickly turned violent. So far, at least 32 people have died in street battles with the police and many have been injured. More than 750 people were arrested. At the weekend, the protest had turned into looting. Basically self-service prevailed well into the night.

Bonke Dumisa is an economist and warns of the damage to South Africa. “We should forget the political camouflage and face reality. This is criminal, this is the only way to approach it. We are talking about damage that amounts to billions of rand. It backfires. The government is now becoming that way having to spend a lot of money that was actually intended for basic needs. ”

Debate about basic needs

Basic needs – that is the keyword for David Neves. He is a scientist at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agricultural Research. From his point of view, the protests and looting are a wink with the fence post: “It is good to think about what can be done quickly to help poor and angry South Africans. But we still need a debate about the structure and the development of the South African economy – and how a whole section of the population, especially black Africans, is excluded from the economy, ”said Neves. “I think we have much bigger questions to answer here.”

There are deep rifts between rich and poor in South Africa, hunger has increased due to the corona pandemic, and observers describe the events as deeply worrying. The attacks were not nationwide or everywhere. And yet stability and normality sound different than when security forces step on broken pieces in an empty shopping center in Germiston east of Johannesburg, on scattered decorative items and broken advertising signs that are scattered everywhere.