[imagesource: Twitter / @shady_myles]

Yesterday was a very, very sad day for South Africa.

Given what we’ve been through as a country, that says something.

What began as pro-Jacob Zuma protests, decrying his arrest and incarceration, have now morphed into something else entirely.

Across large parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, looting and wanton destruction have set in.

When your citizens have so little, for so long, and their pleas for assistance go unanswered, desperation sets in.

As footage showed people looting food and other resources, many were sympathetic to their plight:

You are telling me that you think people are stealing food and pampers solely because of the arrest, you cannot see the external factors of poverty and the pressures of the pandemic especially the continuous lockdown without the access to the relief fund as an influence???

— isela lenhliziyo. (@queenlelo_m) July 12, 2021

The people are tired, the people are sick of being lied to, and the people are angry.

But then we started seeing other scenes, which played out on live TV and were broadcast across the country.

On eNCA, at around 5:30PM, viewers watched on as a man tried his best to squeeze a massive TV into his car.

It was both laughable and horrifying:

Gobsmacked, check out this guy trying to fit a TV into his car in the middle of the Pietermaritzburg CBD. The looting is rampant and brazen!!! pic.twitter.com/WCDhP7gZ0t

— Vumani Mkhize (@VumaniMkhize) July 12, 2021

At least he had his hazards on. Small victories.

In Durban, a video clip showing a man running out of a Woolworths, before hopping in his Merc, went viral:

They say it’s the poor that’s looting because they have no food… #ShutdownSA #StateofEmergency pic.twitter.com/LDPVIVmCrm

— ℙ (@FaizelPatel143) July 12, 2021

According to unverified tweets, the man has been since been identified, and is a former pupil of Westville Boys’ High School.

He has denied being involved in any form of looting, saying he “picked up things that were outside, not inside”.

I’m sure Woolies will be able to bounce back, but other businesses won’t be so fortunate:

#ShutdownSA The Black Business Council has confirmed that the worst affected establishments during the looting and destruction are BLACK OWNED Small, Micro or Medium Enterprises. TTM

— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) July 12, 2021

The third video is perhaps the hardest to digest, but it’s one that many who watched President Ramaphosa’s 8:30PM address last night would have seen.

As Ramaphosa spoke about increased measures being taken to prevent the looting and anarchy from continuing, eNCA’s live broadcast featured visuals of a South African National Blood Service (SANBS) branch being broken into:

Haibo even SANBS is being looted? Are they literally also hungry for other people’s blood? #ShutdownSA pic.twitter.com/ZDtxTotqGw

— Lerato K (@leratokeele) July 12, 2021

You really cannot make it up.

I watched eNCA broadcast scenes of looting for a good 90 minutes from one location, and not a single police officer was seen.

Resources are stretched thin, and it’s reported that critical stocks of rubber bullets and stun grenades are running low, but what kind of a message does it send when a national channel broadcasts unchecked criminality for such a length of time?

In response to the looting, SANBS issued a short statement:

The SANBS condemns vandalism and the destruction of property. We call for calm and remind everyone of the importance of working together to ensure that we save lives. #TrustedToSaveLives

— The SANBS (@theSANBS) July 12, 2021

You can find out more about how to help SANBS via their website.

Of course, as South Africans, we have grown accustomed to finding the humour in everything:

Everyone: “They looting a blood bank!”

Cyril: “Don’t worry. Just B+.”

— Lester Kiewit (@lesterkk) July 12, 2021

After the eNCA visuals from Ramaphosa’s speech, we did get a chance to look inside the SANBS branch to assess the damage:

Here’s a stat that is rather worrying – at one stage, 76 000 SANDF personnel were deployed to help enforce lockdown restrictions.

Ramaphosa has instructed the SANDF to assist law enforcement to get the looting under control, but a maximum of 2 500 troops will be used.

For some reason, it’s been dubbed “Operation Prosper”, reports Business Insider SA:

Defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula announced the 2,500-strong contingent by publication in the Government Gazette on Monday night, putting in place the legal requirements for a move announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in an address to the nation…

The authority for their deployment is valid for three months, until October 2021…

That date, and the employment number, act as legal ceilings. The actual “duration and number of deploying soldiers will be determined based on the assessment of the situation on the ground by the relevant law enforcement agencies”, the SANDF said on Monday.

Ramaphosa’s address has been criticised for being light on details, and this is something we have grown increasingly accustomed to.

When last did the man field a question?

Our country deserves more than government by teleprompter.

The president’s lectures bypass all the duties of accountability on which our democracy is founded.

One-way “addresses” might have made sense at the start of the pandemic, but they no longer serve a useful purpose.

— Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh (@SizweMpofuWalsh) July 12, 2021

Finally, a few thoughts to bear in mind as we ready ourselves for another day of heartbreaking scenes of desperation and destruction:

I can’t help but think these people looting now are doing exactly what some government officials and their mates who got lucrative tenders have been doing for years

— Nomsa Maseko (@nomsa_maseko) July 12, 2021

This looting is so much bigger than Jacob Zuma, although his odious children & their tribalist minions will claim otherwise. Our country is stalked by poverty, hunger, unemployment & desperation in this pandemic. People believe they have nothing to lose by joining the madness.

— Lindiwe Mazibuko (@LindiMazibuko) July 12, 2021

[source:businsidersa]