The first to die was probably a 15-year-old boy: Ntando Ndlovu came from France, a ghetto in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, one of the epicenters of the clashes and then looting that have brought South Africa to its knees for a week. The police had no qualms about taking rifles and pistols against him: the same in the following days did those on the street. The result is the deaths of Ntando and at least 71 other people. In a crisis that does not seem to want to end soon.
Some say to the government that a state of emergency must be asked to put an end to the violence: but in South Africa to evoke a state of emergency is scary, because it would mean returning to a situation similar to that which existed in the times of apartheid. A past that returns. At the moment, at least 72 people have died and 1,234 have been arrested: then there are huge economic damage caused by destroyed houses, markets, shops and department stores, stopped trains, stunted taxis. Yesterday many people who protested along with various local associations began cleaning, knowing that if you do not return to normal immediately, the consequences will be devastating for the economy.
One of the epicenters of the violence is Durban, one of the main centers of the country: “I saw a group in Mercedes and pickups stop in front of a Woolworths supermarket and fill it with all the good things – notes a journalist from the Daily Maverick – and shots are still being heard all over the city. ”The local newspaper, il Witness, Wednesday only came out on the internet: no paper because the presses have been torn apart. Its title: “Destroyed”, destroyed. And then three photos to get an idea of what happened.
She looks astonished at the remains of what until Sunday evening was her stall in Daveyton, just outside Johannesburg Ellen Mhlanga. Together and his mother sold fruits and vegetables: he had gained a good position but now, as he told a news24, in front of what was his counter there are only iron returns and the smell of smoke. “We have had this place for 25 years, now we have lost everything, and we need a lot of money to leave again.”
The remnants of the waged battle between looters and police are everywhere. “Here we are closed in the house”, says al Sowentan Noma Vundla. Born in Zimbabwe, arrived here with her husband, a maid, she says that “she doesn’t go out, too scared. First there were demonstrations for Zuma, then they turned into a sort of party. Those came, full of alcohol, took away meat, spices everything and they burned “.
To make the situation more complicated, the ethnic question has arisen: the Zulus are a proud and warrior people and Zulu is Jacob Zuma, in jail since last Wednesday convicted of outrage because he did not go to testify before the Commission for corruption. His story has served the criminal gangs who blow for a free hand. We are also looking for some people who would have organized the clashes. First on the list of suspects is the former ambassador to Tokyo Thulani Dlomo, supporter of Zuma and one of the bosses of the Zuma secret security agency. He is said to have been the mastermind behind the violence.
But for everyone Ciryl Ramaphosa, President of the Republic, must fight above all one thing: hunger. In South Africa he has always cleared the gap between the few who have money and the rest who don’t know how to live. “Everyone knows that people are hungry, but if you want the army to put up roads, you do the exact opposite. There have been proposals on the table for years from companies and industries that no African National Congress government has browsed through, “he says. Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of former president Mbeki, an economist who has always been a flogger of the ANC. Now the lack of food is urgent. Low wages and unemployment – the youth rate is 46.3% – are a bomb set and ready to go off. Ramaphosa is worried, but there is still no recipe for defusing the timer.
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