South Africa reels from the worst violence since apartheid

SHOPPING CENTRES should be a symbol of South Africa’s progress. Their core customers, as well as their staff, are the black middle class that has grown since apartheid ended. In the past week, however, looters have destroyed malls in cities such as Pretoria, Durban and Johannesburg. Thousands of criminals have ransacked shops, departing unchallenged with their booty.

The mayhem does not end there. Arsonists have burnt lorries along the country’s major motorway, forcing its closure. Vandals have attacked infrastructure, including industrial warehouses and more than 100 telecommunications towers. The country’s largest oil refinery is shut. Rioters have blocked roads used by nurses and doctors to reach hospitals dealing with a massive third wave of covid-19. Ambulances have been attacked. Vaccination sites have shuttered. Thousands of businesses have been wrecked; many will never reopen. Food, petrol and medicines are in short supply in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and parts of Gauteng, which contains Johannesburg. At least 72 people have been killed and more than 1,234 arrested. The worst violence since the dawn of democracy in 1994 not only threatens the presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa but shows how his enemies can exploit the weakness of the post-apartheid state.