Dear Friends

My name is Flip Buys and I am the chairperson of the Solidarity Movement which consists of 20 community organisations. We are being inundated by enquiries from friends and families abroad who want to know what is happening in SA as far as the unrest is concerned. That is why I want to briefly inform you of what is happening here.

The recent riots are the devastating consequences of a culture of looting with impunity of a decade under the Zuma regime. Economists estimate that it has cost the country about R1,5 trillion- it is about a third of our yearly GDP- and a million jobs. In addition, the ANC government’s mismanagement of the country has led to South Africa being downgraded to junk status even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Put together, the Zuma years and poor governance have led to record unemployment that was aggravated by harsh Covid-19 lockdowns.

The Ramaphosa style of government is to rather live with problems than to solve them. However, slow progress is being made going forward. The 15-month prison sentence imposed on Mr Zuma for contempt of court was the spark that ignited unrest. However, it immediately turned into widespread looting and the burning of shopping malls and shops, especially in KZN and in Gauteng. This disrupted the supply of food and led to major job losses.

Although the full extent of the damage has not yet been determined, we already know of exceptional damage and looting of around 200 shopping malls, the looting of more than 1 400 ATMs, 300 banks and post offices, as well of 90 pharmacies and of more than 50 000 shops. These figures are frightening and will no doubt have a significant impact on the local economy.

The speed and extent of the looting and devastation caught the security services off guard and communities quickly organised themselves to secure their neighbourhoods and they were able to prevent the riots from spreading into residential areas. AfriForum’s neighbourhood watches worked with other security structures and played a major role in this. Meanwhile, the police and army managed to restore calm in hotspots and at the moment the situation is tense but calm. The new Zulu King also played a major role in restoring order, speaking out strongly against the violence.

A long road lies ahead to alleviate the impact of the crisis and to prevent a recurrence. The Solidarity Movement includes, among others, Helping Hand which provides social assistance in crisis areas, AfriForum which organises neighbourhood watches countrywide and assists with municipal service delivery and ensures civil rights, and the movement also includes a technical college, Sol-Tech, and a private tertiary institution universiteit, Akademia.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic we established a crisis fund to assist people with emergency food aid, and so far we have looked after more than 20 000 families in this way. We now had to activate the Crisis Fund again, especially to assist people in KZN with food supplies. The greatest need is at old age homes and among people who lave lost everything in the unrest. The main cost involved relates to the delivery of food and the cost of road and air transport of aid to KZN. Social challenges in every area are expected to escalate over the next three weeks. Numerous nursing homes, orphanages and families are affected by this. In light of this crisis, we ask that we again support the crisis fund to overcome this socio-economic crisis.