Businesses and malls across South Africa have made a tough decision to close their doors and stop trading on Monday morning as looters cause havoc in several provinces.
The most affected areas include the Johannesburg CBD, Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Mpumalanga. Rioters set fire to Brookside Mall in Pietermaritzburg, looted several other malls in Durban including Gateway and Cornubia Mall and in Johannesburg too.
Even Eskom and Metrorail temporarily suspended services in areas affected by protests for the safety of their employees.
#ShutDownSA has been trending on Twitter – and social media have called out police and the president for allowing the violence to continue without repercussions. The riots are alleged to have stemmed from calls to free President Jacob Zuma – who was imprisoned for 15 months for failing to appear before the Constitutional Court.
How these protests progressed to looting and theft is unknown. It has been labelled ‘opportunistic crime’ and political parties have distanced themselves from the criminals.
Videos of criminals stealing from malls, shopping centres and chain stores are circulating on social media. It is highly destructive behaviour which will cost jobs, spread the virus and create more mayhem.
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) John Steenhuisen has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to:
- Authorise the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), in a supplementary role to the South African Police Service (SAPS), in targeted areas to assist with tasks such as access control and the opening of transport routes. Our Constitution allows for such a deployment.
- Call for an urgent meeting with all party leaders to discuss the crisis, followed by a joint statement setting out the planned response as well as a call for law and order from all South Africans.
- Call for an urgent meeting of the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) to devise a strategy to deal with the volatile situation and prevent the violence and lawlessness from spreading to more areas.
- Reconvene Parliament, today still, to discuss the role of the SANDF, as well as issues such as the allocation of further budget for the deployment of police reservists in support of SAPS and the Public Order Policing Unit.
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