Members of the military look at damaged ATM machines outside a bank as the country deploys army to quell unrest linked to jailing of former President Jacob Zuma, in Soweto, South Africa, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

South Africa’s violence: The worst in history

On Jul 14, 2021

For five consecutive days and counting, South Africa has witnessed its worst array of violence and looting in history with more than 70 people killed. All aggressions centred on reactions to the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma which spiralled into the worst unrest in decades.

Following the jailing of the former leader, protests and mass looting have widened into an outpouring of anger over the inequality that remains 27 years after the end of apartheid. Poverty has been exacerbated by severe social and economic restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.

More than 1,200 people have been arrested in the lawlessness that has raged in poor areas of two provinces, where a community radio station was ransacked and forced off the air on Tuesday and some COVID-19 vaccination centres were closed, disrupting urgently needed inoculations.

Many of the deaths in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces occurred in chaotic stampedes as thousands of people stole food, electric appliances, liquor and clothing from stores, police said. The deployment of 2,500 soldiers to support the overwhelmed South African police has so far failed to stop the rampant looting.

South Africa’s largest refinery SAPREF in the eastern port city of Durban has been 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 per cent of the refining capacity in Africa’s most industrialised economy, a net importer of petroleum products. Tumelo Mosethli, a South African entrepreneur based in Johannesburg, said jobs being lost as a result of the unrest will “exacerbate” the current dire economic situation.

“We don’t need this – to see people’s shops and businesses being gutted,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Yes, people are hungry today, but tomorrow there’ll be more unemployment, more pain, more suffering in a nation that is trying to recover and rebuild itself.”

Suzan O/AJZ