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Zuma Unrest

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Ntokozo Xaba was found dead with multiple stab wounds at her off-campus residence in Pretoria Gardens on 2 February, after her friends could not reach her over the phone.(Instagram/@ntokozoxaba_)
ANC

Editorial | Ntokozo Xaba: There’s nowhere to hide for black women in a country designed to suppress

This is the country in which falling in love may be a death sentence and romance is being stabbed to death, remains dismembered and stuffed into a suitcase to be left on the street

  • Editorial
3 min read
Rooikat vehicles formed part of the army’s response to the July 2021 riots. Photo: Rajesh Jantilal/ AFP/Getty
APLA

Army vets who responded to call for reserves during July unrest still unpaid

‘The whole operation … was a process of confusion and a total lack of command … and control’

  • Erika Gibson
5 min read
South African National Defence Force soldiers and South Africa Police Services (SAPS) members line up in front of the Phoenix Police Station in Durban, on July 21, 2021. File photo by Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
BHEKI CELE

Hearings into July unrest expose dismal state of security cluster

As the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) concludes its first leg of the inquiry into the July unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the testimonies have laid bare the…

  • Lelona Mxesibe
4 min read
Reeling: Volunteers and workers clean up the looted Bara Mall in Soweto. The destruction and theft in the country is a more than R50-million blow to the already struggling economy. (Lucas Sola/AFP)
BARRICADE

South Africa’s growing social unrest proving as big a threat to growth

Third quarter GDP numbers have interrupted a four quarter economic growth streak because of the July unrest.

  • Anathi Madubela
5 min read
Despite last year’s riots, South Africa has been ranked 118 out of 163 countries in the 2022 Global Peace Index. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP
AGRICULTURE

July protests take their toll as economy shrinks by 1.5%

The largest drops in the third quarter were in the agriculture sector, trade and manufacturing.

  • Anathi Madubela
1 min read
3 December 2021: A sign points toward the eKhenana settlement in Durban. Picture: Rogan Ward
ABAHLALI BASEMJONDOLO

Going back to the future of KwaZulu-Natal politics

The past is helpful in understanding the predatory and violent nature of political factionalism in the province. But it doesn’t answer the question of how to fix it.

  • Ryan Brunette
6 min read
Unemployment epidemic: These men, gathered together to wait for the possibility of a piece job, are some of the 34.9% of South Africans who are without work, the highest figure among 82 countries monitored by business news agency Bloomberg. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
COVID 19

Unemployment hits another record high as unrest takes its toll

The official unemployment rate rose to 34.9% in the third quarter of 2021 — the highest since 2008

  • Sarah Smit
2 min read
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
JULY UNREST

Phoenix hearings lay bare tensions between Black and Indian residents

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

  • Eunice Masson
  • Emsie Ferreira
5 min read
Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

Local elections: As the portraits come down, the Comrades count the cost

Burning a city and asking its residents to vote for you appears to have been a bit of a stretch for Durban’s electorate

  • Paddy Harper
4 min read
ANC

What has the M&G has been up to?

Hello from the other side

  • Ron Derby
6 min read
A private security employee watches as a factory burns in Durban’s Sea Cow Lake area on 12 July. (Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
CHEMICAL SPILL

Criminal probe recommended against multinational UPL for chemical spill

In a statement, United Phosphorus Ltd said that it was co-operating with authorities and the government.

  • Tunicia Phillips
3 min read
AMMUNITION

Ipid swoops on last of 20 Durban officers over 2018 murder

At least one of the officers may be linked to the theft of 1.5-million rounds of ammunition from a warehouse during the July looting and violence

  • Erika Gibson
4 min read
A private security employee watches as a factory burns in Durban’s Sea Cow Lake area on 12 July. (Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
AQUATIC SYSTEMS

United Phosphorus Ltd cleans up spill after chemical blaze in Durban

Scientists have been sent to handle the fallout from the warehouse fire, which stored about 1 600 hazardous materials that can contaminate the air, sea and rivers

  • Chris Gilili
3 min read
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)
ANC

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

  • Stuart Mbanyele
9 min read
The biggest loss however is not vaccines, but the chronic medicines that were looted leaving those with HIV, cancer and diabetes without their medication. (Photo credit should read STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)
CLICKS UNITED PHARMACEUTICAL DISTRIBUTORS

Half of KZN patients have no chronic medication. Here’s how looting affected SA’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out

Vaccines were stolen and many urban vaccine sites had to close as Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal erupted into chaos this past week. The biggest loss however is not vaccines, but the…

  • Mia Malan
10 min read