READ IN BRIEF
It was emasculating of his Presidency.
The destruction over seven horrifying nights would end up costing R50-billion, with another R450-billion lost in investment and confidence (according to the South African Property Owners Association).
The jobs bloodbath was massive – 150,000 more people joined the unemployment line.
Communities turned on each other in Durban, raising the spectre of a race war, particularly in Phoenix, the old working-class Indian township where fear turned into racial profiling and vigilantism.
The chaos was easily sparked from a combustive foundation of inequality, poverty and unemployment, all of which had gone from urgent to crisis as the coronavirus cut its menacing path across South Africa.
But it was also sparked by WhatsApp groups, which organised the looting. Groups on the chat apps sent members instructions on roads to be blocked, malls to be attacked and warehouses to be raided. This was an organised insurrection.
And in the WhatsApp groups one address was shared – that of Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Days of Zondo: The Fight for Freedom from Corruption
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