South Africa this week experienced probably the most destructive anarchic violence in its history. It appeared to be largely a consequence of the 15-month jail sentence meted out to former president Jacob Zuma by the Constitutional Court two weeks ago. But the irony of this clearly orchestrated and devastating mass brutality, which led to widespread looting, largely in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, is that it probably is an extension of and connected to the unlawful mayhem which began in Nkandla last week in reaction to his sentencing.
After many hours of watching this shocking news on television and listening to the accompanying commentary, I found a distinct paucity in understanding of the causal factors underlying the widespread destruction of property, looting and violence. Even during the worst brutality of the apartheid era we did not see such horrendous and widespread looting.
In other words, never before has “law and order” or the “rule of law” been more flagrantly violated through mass violence which did not spontaneously erupt, but was clearly orchestrated, probably by elements among fervent supporters of Zuma bent on using it to secure his release. But that is precisely the point at which a line must be drawn in the sand. Failure to do so and submission to such flagrant anarchy is going to prove counterproductive in the extreme because it will set the most horrendous precedent. One which we will all bear the ghastly burden of in every respect of our lives and in every conceivable manner.
In law, especially criminal law, once a major untoward precedent is allowed, especially in the case of a former president, we will be on a very slippery downward slope on which increasingly more areas of jurisprudence will suffer a similar fate and eventually the entire system of “law and order” will be compromised and probably collapse. This because law is honoured in the breach rather than in its observance as a result of the precedent established.
Once that process is under way it will be the biggest blow to a constitutional democracy which is already confronted with the most devastating socioeconomic and political crisis in post-apartheid South Africa, the biggest victims of which are members of the black working-class majority, many of whom, as a result of unprecedented loss of jobs and income and resultant poverty, were probably opportunistically involved or swept away by the anarchic tide that cascaded across KZN and Gauteng early this week.
This is the point I need to dwell on because the ultimate effect of this looting and violence is going to be on the very people who are already reeling from the devastating impacts Covid-19 and wanton corruption by ANC “cadres” have inflicted on the black working-class majority in the townships. Every business looted or destroyed will add to the jobless bloodbath that is rampant across the country.
Today, everyone in the black townships knows about government corruption. Such knowledge has probably also served to justify the type of violent looting we’ve seen this week, besides the spur for it, which can come from the pangs of hunger and joblessness
But when poverty is desperately bad it becomes itself the motive for opportunistic and often spontaneous looting because it brings in some money with which to feed families suffering the pangs of unprecedented joblessness and hunger, which are at record levels in the poorest black communities especially. Besides, these townships are, arguably, facing the worst crisis ever with the collapse of even basic municipal services as a result of a neoliberal fiscal crisis on the one hand and corruption and incompetence on the other hand. This continued even after the loss of millions of jobs since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
This latest round of violence comes against the backdrop of that devastating crisis and will considerably worsen the impending increase in job losses and resultant increased poverty and hunger.
However, the massive looting must also be seen within the context of widespread looting by ANC officials at all levels of the state, knowledge of which has reached all corners of our society, so rampant has it been over the past decade in particular. Today, everyone in the black townships knows about government corruption. Such knowledge has probably also served to justify the type of violent looting we’ve seen this week, besides the spur for it, which can come from the pangs of hunger and joblessness.
But it is to the measures President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet have been compelled to take, and wisely so, by deploying the army to assist the police in looting hotspots, to which I must now turn. In this regard it is the gross ignorance and naiveté of many on social media which struck me most. Many, especially on the “left”, from the comfort of their middle-class homes in formerly white suburbia, vehemently argued against the deployment of the army.
The socialist revolution this group wants in South Africa cannot and will not be fashioned by the type of violence we saw on Monday. To the contrary, such brutality is unquestionably counterrevolutionary, will, ironically, strengthen the forces of reaction and the fashioning of a “police state” they condemn.
This perspective is reinforced in the light of the unquestionable propensity for violence, often indiscriminately, we have seen throughout our history, including by anti-apartheid forces, and its contagious nature, especially during a deep societal crisis, which is why this week’s violence spread like wildfire. Even small black traders, struggling to eke out a living on the streets in the devastating wake of Covid-19, were targeted. Likewise, the targeting of shopping malls of “white monopoly capital” is unwise because it will worsen the economic and unemployment crisis in black townships.
There are many countries in the world which came close to being destroyed by untrammelled anarchic violence. The notion of law and order, with all its contradictions and even hypocrisy, is not to be scoffed at. Circumstantial context is pivotally important to what we make of it. Besides, often elements of the lumpenproletariat opportunistically exploit anarchic violence for their own nefarious ends, especially during a devastating social crisis.
Ebrahim Harvey is an independent political writer and author of The Great Pretenders: Race & Class under ANC Rule, published by Jacana Media.
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