South Africa: How Protests Against Arrest Of Former Prez Turned Into Targeted Attacks On Indian Community

South Africa is witnessing worst episode of riots and violence in years triggered by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma.

Last week, 79-year-old Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court after he failed to appear in court to testify as part of a government inquiry probing allegations of corruption during his term as president from 2009 to 2018.

Reportedly, soon after he was taken into custody by the police, Zuma's supporters started a riot in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. The violence further spread to other provinces like Mpumalanga, Gauteng, and Northern Cape. Major urban centres like Johannesburg and Durban also saw ransacking of warehouses and stores.

Mob of thousands could be seen plundering retail outlets, malls and even radio stations, as well as attacking public and private property. Amid the violence, COVID-19 vaccination centres were closed even as the country reels under the third wave of the pandemic with 25 per cent of COVID tests turning up positive.

Experts believe that while Zuma's arrests acted as a the spark, the underlying cause of riots is poor economic situation further worsened by the pandemic. In 2020, South Africa witnessed its sharpest decline in annual GDP since 1946, with a contraction of 7 per cent in the economy. Since then, lockdown and other restrictions have hampered recovery.

According to a WSJ report, unemployment stood at a record high of 32.6 per cent in the first three months of 2021; and that more than 10 million people, nearly a sixth of the population, had experienced hunger over the past seven days, as per a survey conducted in March and April.

However, the violence also has racist undercurrents. In a televised address to the nation on Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed concerns about the violence being ethnically based. He further said, "What we are witnessing now are opportunistic acts of criminality, with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and theft."

Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg - the areas affected by the rioting - all have a sizeable population of Indian expats. Reports are pouring in that the businesses owned by Indians and Indian-origin South Africans are being targeted by rioters.

Social media platforms also witnessed a wave of hateful posts against Indians in South Africa. The posts also incited violence against them, asking the rioters to specifically locate Indians and their properties and possessions. The association of Zuma with the Gupta brothers and their role in the corruption cases is being used as an excuse to target Indians.

“Let us not forget that Jacob Zuma sold our country to Indian monopoly capital (IMC),” a Twitter handle supporting ethnic violence wrote.

The tensions between Black community and the Indian community in South Africa is worsened by the socio-economic disparity and the racist rhetoric promoted by various groups and parties.

Even as media attention on the targeted attacks on Indian communities in South Africa remains low, several members have posted online their fears. In a e-mail to DNA, an Indian-origin medical doctor says:

I am writing to you not knowing if I or my family will be alive tomorrow.

I am a young Indian man whose great grandparents came from India as indentured labourers as slaves to work in the sugar cane plantations under colonial rule.

I am a medical doctor working in Durban, South Africa.

The Indian community is coming under attack in civil unrest and war. Weapons have been stocked and piled in.

All the food sources malls and wholesalers have been burnt. The fuel stations have been targeted to prevent movement and blown up.

The communication network towers are being targeted so that we won't be able to get the message out.

Myself and other doctors are unable to get to our patients in the hospital which is even worse with the covid pandemic.

Please get the message out we need help. A genocide has been planned in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

We are getting trapped with no flights out.

Please get this word out. Please. Pray for us before our network and internet gets cut.

I love my country but bad people are using good people to hurt us.

Please help.

In a e-mail to Swarajya, another Indian-origin person in South Africa writes:

There are about 1.5 million Indians living in South Africa and Blacks are now calling for a genocide against Indians. Even Black political parties are calling for genocide against Indians.

The person also shared the tweets of the political party EEF, calling for attacks against Indians in the town of Phoenix, and pointed out that the responses were agreeing with them. They also shared a tweet where Indians asking for help amidst the attacks were refused help by Black police officers (see here, here).

The sender further said that they needed help from the Indian government. "They have already begun attacking our people. Please help us," the email read.

A TOI report quoted Zanele Khomo, chief growth officer at Durban Chamber of Commerce, as saying: "In Durban, we’ve had 16 billion rand worth of stolen stocks and damage to malls and retailers. More than a third of this would be Indian businesses."

In Phoenix, the riots descended into racial violence. An Indian-origin resident who suffered huge losses due to rioters said that the looting and rioting happened in broad daylight and the police did nothing to stop the rioters. He said that dozens of deaths took place in street fights.

"Lots of Indians died in the line of fire protecting their homes and businesses.. many Blacks were killed.. It is terrible for community relations," he said.

Indians Prepare For Self-Defence

As riots started spreading with no government control in sight, many Indian property-owners reportedly had to resort to self-defence, with their own arms and ammunition.

Social media users shared videos of Indian community allegedly wielding arms to protect their family members and properties.

Willem Petzer, the Chairman of Taxpayers Union of South Africa, tweeted, “I have to say, after watching everything that happened today, I am looking at the Durban Indian community in a whole different light. These guys showed us they are willing to go all the way to defend their communities when they are threatened, whatever it takes.”

The South African government was criticised by the social media users for not taking swift action against the rioters.

Crime Stoppers International VP, Yusuf Abramjee, tweeted on 12 July, “What is President Cyril Ramaphosa waiting for? Do they want more malls to burn? Do they want more looting? This lawlessness is not stopping. ACT!! The country is on fire.”

Former Mayor of Johannsensberg Herman Mashaba said the same day, “The SANDF (South African National Defence Force) is being deployed. Why did it take President Ramaphosa so long to realise the levels of lawlessness? Why did it take him so long to see how overwhelmed our law enforcement authorities are? What we have seen this morning, is the cost of indecisive leadership!”

On Wednesday (14 July), Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar spoke to his South African counterpart Dr Naledi Pandor regarding the safety of Indian expats amid riots.

In a tweet, the EAM informed that the South African side had assured that its government was doing "utmost to enforce law and order" and asserted that "early restoration of normalcy and peace was its overriding priority".

Till now, reportedly more than 70 lives have been lost to rioting, and more than 1,200 people have been arrested. South Africa's consumer goods regulatory body estimates that more than 800 shops have been plundered. South African government has now deployed 25,000 troops to assist police in quelling the week-long riots

"The Indian nation here in KZN is the second largest outside of India," the new Zulu king, Misizulu Zulu, said in an appeal to his community on Wednesday. "We have lived in peace for many years alongside them. Therefore I ask: Let us be understanding and thoughtful towards each other."