Crowds rob shops and offices South Africa On Wednesday, ignoring the government’s call for an end to a week of violence, which has killed more than 70 people and damaged hundreds of businesses.
South Africa’s worst unrest in years also disrupted hospitals struggling to deal with the third wave of the epidemic. Coronavirus disease And forced an oil refinery to close.
The former president’s imprisonment sparked protest Jacob Zuma The failure to attend last week’s corruption investigation expanded to robbery and widespread outrage over the difficulties and inequality that persisted 27 years after apartheid ended.
Shopping malls and warehouses in many cities were looted or set on fire, mainly in Zuma’s home in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as the financial and economic center of Johannesburg and surrounding Gauteng provinces.
Police said it spread to two other provinces overnight-Mpumalanga and Northern Cape, east of Gauteng.
On Wednesday, a Reuters photographer saw several shops looted in Hammersdale, KwaZulu-Natal. At the same time, local TV stations reported more looting of shops in Soweto, South Africa’s largest town, and Durban, a port city in the Indian Ocean.
According to a local TV station, on Wednesday, some places, such as the town of Alexandra in the north of Johannesburg, had sent soldiers to the streets to help a large number of police control the unrest, and some places were restoring order.
The National Hospital Network (NHN), which represents 241 public hospitals that have been affected by the worst COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, said that oxygen and medicine have been used up, most of which are imported through Durban, as well as food.
“The effects of robbery and vandalism have had dire consequences for the hospital,” NHN said. “The epicenter of the pandemic is located in the affected province that is currently under siege.”
It said that workers in the affected areas were unable to go to work, which exacerbated the shortage caused by the third wave of infections.
Reuters TV footage showed that as the Durban authorities seemed unable to stop the robbery, self-defense fighters (many of them from the white minority in South Africa) armed with guns blocked the streets to prevent further robberies. A man shouted “Go home to protect your home.”
Other residents gathered outside the supermarket waiting for them to open the door so that they could stock up on essential items.
Strict social and economic restrictions aimed at curbing COVID-19 have exacerbated poverty and inequality that have exacerbated riots. The United Nations in South Africa expressed concern that the disruption of workers’ transportation caused by the riots would increase unemployment, poverty and inequality.
An industry official said on Wednesday that SAPREF, South Africa’s largest oil refinery in Durban, has been temporarily closed.
The rand hovered near a three-month low in early trading on Wednesday, a retreat for one of the best-performing emerging market currencies during the pandemic. Government bonds weakened slightly.
The mayor of Ethekwini, a municipality including Durban, estimated that property damage and inventory losses amounted to 15 billion rand (1.09 billion US dollars).
He said that about 40,000 companies were hit by the riots.
“A large part of it may never recover,” he told reporters on Wednesday, which puts nearly 130,000 jobs at risk.
The 79-year-old Zu Ma was sentenced to a month’s sentence for ignoring court orders and providing evidence when investigating high-level robberies during the nine years from his tenure to 2018.
He also faces trial in another case, including corruption, fraud, extortion and money laundering. The former president pleaded not guilty in court in May. His foundation said on Tuesday that the violence will continue until his release.
The state prosecutors have stated that they will punish those who rob or destroy property, but so far this threat has done little to stop them. The security forces stated that they have arrested more than 1,200 people.
Despite the riots caused by Zuma’s imprisonment, decades after the white minority rule ended in 1994 and democracy was ushered in, the ruling African National Congress failed to resolve the issue of inequality, which reflects increasing frustration.
According to the latest government data in 2015, about half of the population lives below the poverty line, and the increasing unemployment rate since the pandemic has driven many people into despair. The unemployment rate in the first three months of 2021 hit a record high of 32.6%.
(Additional reporting by Rogan Ward in Hammersdale, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town, Promit Mukherjee, Alexander Winning and Tim Cocks in Johannesburg, writing by Tim Cocks, editing by Angus MacSwan)
