South Africa Seeks to Deploy 25,000 Troops to Curb Unrest

Seventy-two people have died and more than 3,000 people arrested, according to official figures, since the former President, Jacob Zuma, began a 15-month jail term, prompting protests that rapidly turned into a wave of looting of shops, malls and warehouses, The Guardian reported.

The unrest, which has been accompanied by attacks on communications facilities, roads and other critical infrastructure, has largely been limited to the provinces of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, but has hit goods and services around South Africa.

The government announced 208 incidents of looting and vandalism were recorded on Wednesday, as the number of troops deployed to reinforce overwhelmed police doubled to 5,000.

But Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula later told parliament she had “submitted a request for deployment of plus-minus 25,000” soldiers to the president.

It is unclear when the reinforcements might actually be deployed, as the mobilisation will take weeks to take effect. A full call-up on this scale has not been attempted since the end of the racist apartheid regime in 1994, experts announced.

The government had been under pressure to increase the presence of security forces to reassure frightened communities across a swath of the country. Images of crowds of looters hauling away refrigerators, large televisions, microwave ovens and crates of food and alcohol have been a visceral shock for many South Africans.

Armed civilians have formed self-defence or vigilante groups in many of the worst-hit areas, setting up barricades and, in some instances, opening fire on suspected looters. A group of commuter minibus operators armed themselves with sticks and firearms on Wednesday and violently beat up suspected looters Vosloorus township, South-Eastern Johannesburg.

Bekhi Cele, the police ministers, called on Thursday for vigilantes to stand down, noting, “The problem starts when they go for parallel structures; they go themselves and shoot the people and all that. Well, it is mob justice … vigilantism when people take law into their own hands.”

The National Hospital Network, representing 241 public hospitals already under strain from Africa’s worst COVID epidemic, said the looting and destruction was having dire consequence on hospitals, with staff in affected areas unable to get to work.

Medics told The Guardian that emergency wards had been “flooded” with casualties with gun shot wounds. Health services in South Africa are already under massive strain as the country suffers a third wave of COVID-19 infections.

Other self-help groups have worked to protect and clean up shattered malls and other businesses, or to protect service stations.

The extent of the devastation is only now becoming clear. South Africa’s consumer goods regulatory body stated that more than 800 retail shops had been looted, while in KwaZulu Natal goods worth between $400mln and $1bln have been stolen or destroyed, according to industry estimates. More than 200 shopping malls have been destroyed, damaged or looted.

President Cyril Ramaphosa met leaders of political parties and cautioned that parts of the country “may soon be running short of basic provisions following the extensive disruption of food, fuel and medicine supply chains”.

The state-owned logistics operator Transnet declared a “force majeure” on Wednesday – an emergency beyond its control – on a rail line that links Johannesburg to the coast because of the unrest.

In the port city of Durban, hundreds of people queued outside food stores hours before they opened, as lines of cars also formed outside fuel stations. In Johannesburg, shelves of supermarkets were emptied by panic-buying. In Soweto, the famous former township, bread was being sold from a delivery truck outside a large shopping mall as stores have either been looted or shut due to fears of vandalism.

On Tuesday, the country’s largest refinery, Sapref, responsible for a third of South Africa’s fuel supply, closed its plant in Durban.

The lootings have “seriously compromised our energy security and food security”, added Bonang Mohale, chancellor of University of the Free State.

South African Petroleum Industry Association sought to reassure consumers on Wednesday, announcing the availability of petrol and other related products in the country was stable.

Christo van der Rheede, executive director of the largest farmers’ organisation, AgriSA, stated producers were struggling to get crops to market because of the logistical “shambles”. He warned that if law and order were not restored soon, “we are going to have a massive humanitarian crisis”.

Ramaphosa had initially deployed 2,500 troops at the start of the week to help the overwhelmed police force, before plans quickly changed to scale up the numbers to 25,000.

However the deployment is extremely expensive, and an extra burden on South Africa’s faltering economy.

Some analysts have attributed the breakdown of order to factional rivalries within the ruling African National Congress party.

Zuma was ousted by Ramaphosa in 2018 and handed himself over to police last week to serve a 15-month jail sentence for refusing to appear before a judicial inquiry investigating corruption during his nine-year rule.

The jailing of the former president was a significant victory for Ramaphosa, who leads a moderate and pragmatic faction of the ruling African National Congress party.

There is some evidence that followers of the former leader instigated at least some of the recent unrest in a deliberate effort to undermine rivals, possibly opening a way to a return to power or at the very least protecting their economic interests.

The targeting of communications towers, roads, fuel supply routes, port facilities and water plants suggests a strategy aimed at economic sabotage, experts have suggested.

Zuma’s core supporters say he is the victim of a witch-hunt orchestrated by political opponents. The 79-year-old former anti-apartheid fighter has hitherto remained popular among many poor South Africans, especially in KwaZulu-Natal.