WeeklySA_AdminTHE wanton looting and destruction of property witnessed in the past few days, which almost grounded this country to its knees economically, was surely an orchestrated plan by people who did not even anticipate the devastating consequences of their dastardly deeds.
Large numbers of men, women and children broke into shops and factories in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and stole anything they could find – in one of the most bizarre acts of impunity the country has ever experienced. Supermarkets, petrol-filling stations and even health institutions and doctors’ consulting rooms were looted and destroyed.
Inevitably, this trail of massive destruction of property has left thousands of workers without jobs. Worse, the government’s vaccination programme has been indefinitely put on hold. And pensioners have not been spared either. The facilities from where they receive their monthly grants have been extensively damaged, and, in some instances, gutted.
To add salt to injury, most of the destruction occurred in the townships, perpetrated by the very people who were supposed to protect these businesses. What a shame!
What started as a campaign for the release of former President Jacob Zuma, who is serving a 15-month sentence for contempt, turned into widespread acts of criminality and madness. It was well timed as the action became the grist to the mill of prevailing extreme poverty and unemployment in this country.
The madness that punctuated the protests was characterised by indiscriminate rampage that targeted critical public amenities such as public health facilities and the theft of medicines and machines and even the doctors’ stethoscopes. What type of poverty drives people to try and burn a hospital, where patients receive chronic medication and care from doctors and nurses working hard to save their lives?
The consequences of their actions are going to be felt for many years to come. Thousands of people who were holding on to the scarce jobs available, have now been rendered jobless, many companies are going to fold, others are going to take months, if not years, to rebuild their businesses. There is going to be a massive shortage of food and petrol. The malls and the small businesses in the townships could take years to operate again.
Yet, this conflagration adds to the calamity already visited upon this country and many others across the globe by the Covid-19 pandemic. Cry the beloved country!
That said, we are heartened by the communities that have pushed back the advance of the marauders. They have said enough is enough. Some have galvanised themselves into neighbourhood watch groups to turn the tide against the wanton destruction of public and private property. We commend the efforts of these heroic community members who took it upon themselves in their respective areas to fend off the marauding mobs.
Police too played a huge part to maintain law and order, though they were completely outnumbered, and, in many instances, gave in and resigned themselves to the role of spectators amid the anarchy. Thankfully, the deployment of the SANDF strengthened the feeble arm of the law – but it all proved too late to put an end to the destruction.
It is a moot-point whether the country’s intelligence networks failed the nation, but the build-up to this week’s anarchy should have been sufficient warning to the law enforcement agencies to pre-empt the protests’ shock troopers.
Whoever is responsible for this grand-scale economic sabotage must be brought to book. They have set the country back by a decade. This country cannot be held to ransom by those whom the gods have made mad, in order to destroy.
