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In preparation for the possible dip of the ANC majority in next year’s national elections, the official opposition Democratic Alliance is looking at co-opting the international community to ensure a peaceful state transition. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

DA is preparing for unrest should ANC lose power in 2024

Official opposition says it should lead the process to develop a declaration for a peaceful transition and approach the international community for oversight

United States president Donald Trump.  (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump ‘gleefully watched’ while riots unfolded, says panel

The congressional committee investigating the mob attack on the US Capitol has said in its latest hearing the former president refused to take action to stop his supporters,…

A counter-protestor holds a sig as demonstrators gather for the “Justice for J6” rally in Washington, DC, on September 18, 2021, in support of the pro-Trump rioters who ransacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. – Washington was on high alert for the rally with security forces better prepared to avoid a repeat of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. US Capitol police said they have no indication of a specific plot associated with the rally, but warned in a news conference there had been “some threats of violence,” with a counter-rally scheduled to take place nearby. (Photo by PEDRO UGARTE / AFP)

Trump White House chief risks criminal charge in Capitol riot probe

Mark Meadows, who failed to appear before the congressional panel last month, is seen as a key witness to Trump’s role in efforts to overturn the election by undemocratic means

Week of hell: Armed residents gathered around fires at a ‘road block’ they’d set up in Phoenix on 15 July. Guillem Sartorio/AFP/ Getty Images

Phoenix hearings lay bare tensions between Black and Indian residents

Indian residents deny ‘massacre’ label; black survivors claim violence and orchestration

Buildings that were looted then burnt during the 2021 looting and unrest in Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Riots leave ugly scars as Richmond braces itself to go the polls

With many job losses caused by the looting and arson of July, the Midlands town faces an uncertain future

Beach bans were forced by the government during South Africa’s lockdowns. (Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

It’s safe to open the beaches, says UPL after chemical spill in July riots

Agrochemical producer UPL said it has paid R250-million in chemical spill clean-up

Chapter 2.19: Riots, violence and elections – a political podcast

In this episode, veteran journalist Paddy Harper and political journalist Lizeka Tandwa chat to Mawethu Mosery and Vasu Gounden about riots and the elections

Reality: A police official arrests a woman after the
Lotsoho Mall in Katlehong,
southeast of Johannesburg,
was looted and vandalised. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)

Sasria to get R3.9bn from Treasury to cover July unrest insurance claims

Claims totalling more than R5.8-billion had already been paid out to businesses

KwaZulu-Natal residents in riot-affected areas such as Umlazi, southwest of Durban, now have to travel far to banks and shops after their local malls were looted or damaged. (Rogan Ward)

Looters remorseful as daily life gets tougher

Some residents in areas affected by the July riots have lost their livelihoods, have to travel far to get to the jobs that remain and walk long distances to unaffected shopping…

Implicated: Security companies said to have given weapons to civilians in Phoenix include Royal Security, run by Roy Moodley (in red shirt), who is close to Jacob Zuma (centre), (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Thuli Dlamini)

Zuma funder link in Phoenix killings

Weapons have been seized from a number of security companies owned by ANC-linked individuals who are loyal to the former president

A member of SAPS shoots rubber bullets to disperse a crowd looting outside a warehouse storing alcohol in Durban on July 16, 2021, after protestors clashed with police following a week of unrest in South Africa.   (Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO / AFP)

Visible and invisible violence in present day South Africa

The relations of social domination are reproduced in our habitual ways of talking

Burden of grief: The late Njabulo Allen Dlamini, who was killed in Phoenix on 12 July, was finally buried on 21 July 2021. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP)

Riots leave the dead unburied and the living at risk

Crematoriums, funeral parlours and cemeteries were forced to close, leaving the families of those who died during the unrest to live with their bodies.

Social security net: Senior citizens queuing for their social grants outside Jabulani Mall in Soweto.

The basic income grant is surely on the horizon

It is becoming clear SA needs a BIG, as many ANC cabinet members, opposition parties and experts agree. But there is still dissent from some quarters

Mail & Gaurdian

Editorial: Unrest death count the highest in more than 180 years

We need a commission of inquiry to find the central characters in the tragic event that played out in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Employers affected by the recent unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal will be able to apply for support through the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) as soon as next week. (Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP)

The explosive mix of multilevel factors explain the violence amid the looting

The social, political and economic problems of poor governance need to be fixed so that public resources are managed and distributed equally

1949: Rumours of a black teenager being attacked by an Indian shopkeeper sparked days of violence in Durban, with an eventual casualty list of 100 dead and 500 injured. Photo: Bettmann

Indians were the soft target of looting insurgents’ Plan B

The recent violence has been a cruel reminder for many South African Indians of the 1949 anti-Indian pogroms in KwaZulu-Natal

(Mail & Guardian)

Editorial: Last week’s unrest: Who is left to clean up the mess?

Once again, people of all races, religions and ages have come together to sort out the devastation that can largely be laid at the doorstep of our government

Legging it: Paddy Harper can now see the funny side of witnessing a looter making off with a stolen leg on Monday last week

My sense of fear is over, for now

Whatever last week was — half-assed coup or failed sparkling insurrection — the dread of impending apocalypse has dissipated

(John McCann/M&G)

Time for a Marshall Plan for South Africa

The conflation of economic, governance and health crises in the form of the recent unrest shows up the need for party-neutral reforms

Scenes of destruction: Thousands of shops and businesses were looted following a wave of violent protest in July 2021. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Dedicated courts to fast-track looting cases

Whereas low-level looters may receive fines or community service, the masterminds will be dealt with ‘ruthlessly’, says prosecutions head