South Africa unrest death toll rises to 32

JOHANNESBURG: A further 22 people have died during unrest raging in South Africa, a provincial official said on Tuesday, taking the national death toll from days of violence to 32.

The toll in KwaZulu-Natal province now stands at 26, premier Sihle Zikalala told a news conference on Tuesday, a day after officials confirmed six deaths in Gauteng province.

President Cyril Ramaphosa pleaded for calm following days of protests that were triggered by last week’s incarceration of his predecessor and have claimed 10 lives, forced businesses to shut and weakened the currency.

“This is not who we are as South Africans, this is not us. Time and time again we have chosen a different path, of peace, engagement and democracy,” Ramaphosa said on Monday in a televised address, his second in two days. “What we are witnessing now are opportunistic acts of criminality, with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and theft.”

The riots began in the southeastern KwaZulu-Natal province, former President Jacob Zuma’s home base, and spread to the nation’s economic hub of Gauteng over the weekend, disrupting commerce and transport networks. Authorities arrested 489 people and sought to disperse hundreds of protesters who targeted stores across the two regions.

Looters make off with goods at a Durban store on July 12. Image Credit: AP

A key trade route in KwaZulu-Natal was shut after trucks were torched on Friday night and the looting of malls followed. Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest lender, closed its branches in protest-hit areas. Retailers Pick n Pay Stores Ltd., Woolworths Holdings Ltd. and Massmart Holdings Ltd., a unit of Walmart Inc., were among the companies to shut outlets.

South Africa’s rand weakened as much as 2% to 14.5058 the dollar in Johannesburg on Monday, the most since February 25, as the violence spread.

The government said the army will be deployed to help the police quell the unrest, among the worst the nation has seen since the end of white-minority rule in 1994. The protests began after Zuma handed himself in on July 7 to begin serving a 15-month sentence for defying a court order to testify at a graft inquiry. He denies wrongdoing.

A family member watches on as police forensics officers carry the body his brother who was found inside a burned shop, in Johannesburg. Image Credit: AP

50,000 vaccines lost during looting

“We will be prioritising the prosecution of suspects alleged to be involved in this violence,” Ramaphosa said. “We will take action to protect every person in this country against the threat of violence, intimidation, threats and looting.”

The president warned that the unrest could threaten food security and was disrupting efforts to inoculate people against the coronavirus.

Coronavirus vaccines may have been stolen during the looting on Monday, which will have a dire impact the pace and momentum of the government’s inoculation program, according to Nicholas Crisp, director-general at the Department of Health.

“Approximately 50,000 vaccines might have been lost during the loots, but this will only be verified when people return to the vaccine sites,” Crisp said during an interview on SAFm on Tuesday.

South Africa vaccinated 146,577 people on Monday compared with more than 191,000 people a day late last week. The country wants to ramp up the numbers to 250,000 people a day by July 16, according to the Department of Health.

Lockdown woes

The tumult in South Africa coincided with the extension of a lockdown that’s hurting businesses and robbed many people of their livelihoods in a nation with a 32.6% unemployment rate.

Suspect looters are held at the Bara taxi rank shops in Soweto Johannesburg on July 12, 2021. Image Credit: AP

‘’South Africa has been sitting on a powder keg for some time,” Mervyn Abrahams, program coordinator for the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice Dignity Programme, said by phone from Durban. Joblessness, inflation, and the lockdown means “the rioting and looting is a prime way for many criminal elements to take advantage of the situation under the banner of ‘Free Zuma’ whether they believe in it or not,” he said.

The Constitutional Court on Monday heard Zuma’s application to have his conviction and sentencing reviewed. It reserved judgment.

Parts of the N3 Toll Route, which links the port city of Durban with Gauteng, remained closed on Tuesday and access to the M2 highway in Johannesburg was restricted in some areas after protests erupted. The inner city and central business district bore the brunt of the violence on Monday.

“There is no grievance or political cause that can justify the violence we have seen in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng,” Ramaphosa said.

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