Five keys to understanding the surge in violence in South Africa which has already claimed more than 117 lives

The wave of violent riots and massive looting which has devastated South Africa in recent days is already numbering, after 117 dead and more than 1,200 arrests, as the most serious outbreak of violence in the country since the conquest of democracy in 1994.

How did the so-called “rainbow nation” and the most developed country in Africa come to this? Five contextual clues allow us to understand the crisis triggered on July 9:

THE IMPRISONMENT OF FORMER PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA

Adored by many for his image of “president of the people” and hated perhaps even more for his great corruption scandals, the imprisonment of the penultimate South African head of state was the trigger for the first protests, which would later escalate into a massive wave of crime.

Zuma, 79, was sentenced at the end of June for contempt of court, for having repeatedly refused to testify for corruption. Aunque se entregó pacíficamente “in extremis” in the noche del 9 de julio, antes había estado insistiendo en que es víctima de una persecución político-judicial y en que la pena de prisión will be para él una “sentencia de muerte” por su edad y health.

SERIOUS PRE-EXISTING SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

More than 27 years after the official end of the racist “apartheid” system of segregation, South Africa still grapples with the wounds left by that time, which affect the black population much more deeply.

According to World Bank data, The southern nation remains the most unequal country in the world, unemployment has remained anchored at around 30% for years (with even worse figures for young people) and more than half of the population lives in poverty.

DISEASE FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The coronavirus was particularly aggressively initiated with South Africa. Not only is it the country with the most cases and deaths in Africa, but As of mid-2020, it was also among the 5 nations in the world hardest hit by covid.

The dominance of the beta variant in the second wave and of the delta in the current third great epidemic curve have forced the country to re-impose and maintain severe restrictions, as vaccination, as in the rest of the African continent, is still progressing very much. slowly. .

CRIME

South Africa is a country with serious general crime problems, especially in large cities. Between 2019 and 2020, the southern country recorded an average of 58 murders per day and the number of violent crimes has maintained an increasing trend for a decade.

In addition to this factor, the transformation of occasional protests and outbreaks of violence into waves of looting is a relatively frequent phenomenon, although to a lesser extent than in recent days. The last big precedent was the xenophobic riots that took place in September 2019, which left at least 12 dead.

POSSIBLE INTELLIGENCE FAILURES

The big question now, in a South Africa already devoted to quelling the latest outbreaks of violence and cleaning up the traces of devastation, is how to resolve responsibility for the chaos of the last days. The government insists that this is a “Economic sabotage” and indicate what violence was orchestrated and instigated to destabilize the country.

In this sense, the local media are placing family members, former spies and militarized veterans linked to Zuma at the center of the investigation and wondering to what extent the former president’s influence on South African intelligence might have. an impact on the ineffective response of overwhelmed security. strengths. .

(with information from the EFE)

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