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Community members hold pangas as they stand at a road block in Phoenix Township, North Durban, on July 15, 2021 to prevent looters from reaching the community. – Armed community members and vigilante groups have stepped in to tackle unrest in South Africa, taking matters into their own hands and sometimes stoking violence as security forces struggle to restore order. Understaffed and heavily reliant on private security companies, the police was rapidly overwhelmed when riots and looting first flared last week in the southeastern province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), sparked by the jailing of graft-accused former president Jacob Zuma. (Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO / AFP) (Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO/AFP via Getty Images)
JULY UNREST

Witness barely escaped Phoenix with his life

“They called us Zuma’s dogs” and the K-word, Human Rights Commission told on day seven of hearings into July unrest

  • Eunice Masson
4 min read
The 2021 July riots were the most widespread, coordinated, and visible instance of looting in South Africa.
ZUMAUNREST

The effects of the recent looting on South Africa’s young democracy

Rebuilding is crucial, but democracies cannot allow themselves to be held to ransom by the destruction of anarchists in dictating where public funds should be spent

  • Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane
7 min read
A woman runs away as members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) deploy during a protest over food parcels in Alexandra, Johannesburg, on April 20, 2020. – (Marco Longari/AFP)
AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

Army and police violence spurs racial tensions

With the Covid-19 pandemic exposing many structural cleavages and spurring racial tensions, it is likely that the post-pandemic South Africa will encounter new challenges and…

  • Kayla Arnold
6 min read