Gauteng shutdown death toll rises to 19 as anti-apartheid activists weigh in

JOHANNESBURG - Nineteen people had been confirmed dead in Gauteng late on Tuesday as a result of the unrest which has been plaguing parts of the province since the weekend.

These included 10 that died at Ndofaya Mall in Meadowlands, Soweto. According to Gauteng Premier David Makhura the 10 lost their lives in a stampede that happened during a looting frenzy.

He visited the mall on Tuesday and addressed journalists: “The 10 people who lost their lives were retrieved from here. It is very sad.

“We’re losing lives, 10 people here passed on, out of a stampede,” he said.

The other nine fatalities happened in parts of Gauteng ravaged by the unrest. These included an Ekurhuleni metro police officer, Meshack Mahlangu. “We have lost a police officer. (He) was shot at,” Makhura said of Mahlangu. Mahlangu was shot and killed at the Sam Ntuli Mall in Katlehong on Monday night. The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said Mahlangu was part of the police contingent deployed to disperse looters.

Makhura said Mahlangu’s killing indicated that communities were being mobilised to loot. He vowed that the organisers would be brought to book.

“There are areas where you can see that this is organised systematically by people who want to do harm,” he said.

A total of 45 people have reportedly died due to the unrest in both Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

“We’re beginning to lose lives on a scale that we’d love (to have) avoided,” said Police Minister Bheki Cele. He was addressing reporters in Alexandra.

He said while some of the deceased had been shot, others had died “in circumstances that we have not determined”.

Meanwhile, the continuing unrest in South Africa has been met with shock and concern in the international community as investors hope for a rapid and overwhelming response to the looting and violence.

While foreign media did cover the ongoing violence taking place in South Africa over the past two days, it did not make front page news in most foreign newspapers.

Former UK anti-apartheid leader Lord Peter Hain has commented on the current instability on the ground in South Africa.

“The Constitutional Court ordering the imprisonment of former president Zuma was an encouraging signal that the rule of law in South Africa has triumphed despite his blatant attempts in both office and retirement to defy and subvert it,” Hain told Independent Media on Tuesday.

“However, the violence and looting that his cronies have unleashed must not win because that would be a big setback to President Ramaphosa’s efforts to establish good governance in the Mandela tradition, and rescue South Africa from the corruption and looting that Zuma led as president,” Hain said.

The looting of over 200 malls in the country by thousands of looters has, however, become largely opportunistic and criminal, as people take whatever they can get, and the police and military have been unable to establish a presence everywhere at the same time. Struggle stalwarts living abroad who made significant contributions to the overthrow of apartheid have expressed deep concerns about the economic and structural inequalities that persist in South Africa. — The Star