DURBAN: President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said a week-long spree of violence and pillaging that has shocked South Africa had been “planned” and vowed to hunt down those responsible, as the death toll from the unrest reached 212.

“It is quite clear that all these incidents of unrest and looting were instigated — there were people who planned it and coordinated it,” Ramaphosa said in a visit to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, the flarepoint for post-apartheid South Africa’s worst crisis.

“We are going after them,” Ramaphosa told reporters.

“We have identified a good number of them, and we will not allow anarchy and mayhem to just unfold in our country.” A minister in Ramaphosa’s office Khumbudzo Ntshavheni later told reporters the investigations “are at a very advanced stage.” One of the suspected instigators has been arrested and 11 are under surveillance, she said.

Shopping malls and warehouses have been ransacked in KZN and Johannesburg, stoking fears of shortages and inflicting a devastating blow to the an already battered economy.

Of the 212 people killed, 180 died in KZN, according to government figures.

Some of the fatalities were shot and others died in looting stampedes.

Ntshavheni said the situation in the affected regions was “gradually and firmly returning to normality.” The unrest followed protests triggered by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma, who was handed a 15-month jail term for snubbing a corruption investigation.

Zuma, whose home province is KZN, commands support among loyalists in the ruling African National Congress (ANC), who portray him as a champion of the poor.

In scenes that have stunned the nation, looters have casually plundered stores, pharmacies and in one case a blood bank, hauling away goods as police stood by, seemingly powerless to act.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2021