SOUTH Africa has seen intense violence over the past week, as rioters have run amok looting and pillaging, with the government sending in around 10,000 troops to quell the disorder. The apparent trigger for the violence, said to be the worst since the apartheid era, was the sentencing of former president Jacob Zuma, who was given 15 months in a contempt of court case. However, it appears as if the roots of the violence lie much deeper than just the sentencing of the charismatic, and controversial, former head of state. Over 100 people have been killed while the violence has centred in the provinces of KawaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Perhaps one of the key factors behind the rage is the high unemployment rate in South Africa — above 32pc as per one figure — as well as the continuing health crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has added to economic woes.

It was only in 1994 that South Africa ended the vile system of apartheid that had created a segregated society based on colour and ethnicity. White South Africans, many of them descendants of European colonisers, sat on top of the totem pole despite being in the minority while members of the black majority toiled away, subjected to deplorable, degrading laws that practically gave them subhuman status. It is this abhorrent system that Nelson Mandela successfully campaigned against. However, nearly 30 years down the line while there have been advances, it appears Mandela’s dream of a more equal — economically, socially, politically — nation remains unfulfilled, as reflected in the recent violence. Despite being one of the continent’s major economies, South Africa remains plagued by crime, inequality and corruption. While it is true that creating a more equal nation after nearly five decades of apartheid is not an easy task, the ANC that rules South Africa, along with other political players, needs to make more of an effort to ensure economic justice is done, and the rule of law remains supreme in the country.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2021