Gauteng, KZN violent protests could spill over to other provinces

The nasty protests spreading through Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal like wildfire over the past few days, resulting in unacceptable looting and violence, will have far-reaching consequences for our country and its economy.

The violent demonstrations that have left a trail of destruction in their wake, resulting in millions of rands in damage, could spill over to other provinces after a chaotic 72 hours since it started in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday.

At a time when the economy can ill afford further setbacks, with Covid already cutting a swathe through local businesses, this needs to be condemned in the strongest manner and met with the full force of the law.

On Friday in KwaZulu-Natal, many trucks were burnt on the N3 near Mooiriver.

It spread to Gauteng on Saturday night, and early yesterday with parts of the M2 highway forced to be closed as gunshots were fired at vehicles.

It spread to the inner city, where property has been damaged.

The Road Freight Association said: “We have small business owners who most probably have lost everything – their business, their vehicles, as well as the loads they were carrying. Their employees could very well face the ogre of unemployment. This, through no fault of their own – but solely due to the wanton and indiscriminate destruction by protesters.”

As Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said in a tweet yesterday: “We must not allow the tendency of looting to take root in our country.”

We are all for peaceful protests. This has gone way beyond that.

We need hard action taken against those who break the law to send out a clear message that this must never be allowed to happen again