Protests and looting: violence in South Africa is spreading

The violence that has been going on in South Africa for days is spreading to more and more places. More than 70 people have already died in the riots, hundreds have been arrested and numerous shops destroyed.

The days of violent riots in South Africa after ex-President Jacob Zuma went to prison have spread. Most recently, protests and looting spread to the provinces of Mpumalanga and the North Cape. Previously, they had mainly focused on Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal and the financial and economic center of Johannesburg as well as the surrounding province of Gauteng. There are increasing voices calling on the government to impose a state of emergency.

Once again, shops, shopping centers, offices and warehouses were looted and partly set on fire in several cities, for example in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto and the port city of Durban, as video recordings showed. Soldiers were dispatched to the streets to aid the outnumbered police force. According to government information, the military was stationed primarily at strategic points around hospitals and airports, but also in the Alexandra township near Johannesburg.

From townships around cities like Cape Town, Mahikeng or East London there were reports of civilian groups who tried to protect their infrastructure against looters. After there were police reports that the looting had spread to other provinces, counter-movements formed there. Still, there were other reports of looting.

More than 70 dead

The unrest is the bloodiest since democracy began in 1994. According to security forces, 72 people died. Most died in mass panics during the looting, some died in ATM explosions. More than 1200 people were arrested. Hundreds of stores were destroyed.

The situation is exacerbated by the Corona crisis – many vaccination centers are closed because of the unrest. There is also a threat of supply bottlenecks because one of the most important connections – the N3 motorway from Africa’s most important port in Durban to Johannesburg – has been closed for days. The estimated damage to the country’s previously ailing economy is now estimated at tens of millions.

Zuma imprisoned for 15 months

The trigger was the imprisonment of the former President Zuma, many supporters of the 79-year-old took to the streets. Increasingly, however, anger and disappointment about social inequality, which still exists 27 years after the end of apartheid, became the focus. Zuma turned himself in to the police over the weekend and served his 15-month prison term. He had been sentenced for refusing to testify in corruption investigations during his nine-year tenure, which ended in 2018.