Heartbreaking Stories of the Ailing Masses and the Businesses Lost to Destruction
There has been an outpouring of anxiety by South Africans at large as a dark cloud lingers over the skies of our beautiful land in recent days. Citizens have expressed shock and dismay with many wondering when a sense of normality, albeit the new one brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, will return.
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Chaos has become the order of the day with the wailing cries of pain and destruction the only sound to pierce the once relative peace of the night across South Africa.
Many untold stories feature prominently in what has become a raging cascade of suffering, particularly in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the two provinces at the forefront of the country's battle against total lawlessness.
Source: Getty Images
The extent of it all is unspeakable with the damage to property, including malls, shops, warehouses and residential houses, amounting to excessive amounts.
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In the midst of it, Briefly News reached out to the ordinary citizens of South Africa; those who have borne the brunt of a new kind of pandemic, one which started as a protest against the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma but soon spiralled into a frenzy of glaring criminality.
Asking how the looting has affected their businesses, the flood of comments painted a grim picture of the situation currently confronting the country's citizens, many of whom come from different walks of life.
Nkosinathi Ngcobo, who is a taxi driver, said:
"The looting has affected all of us including hawkers. There's no one at the ranks."
Winkie Mahlangu, who is a manager at a kitchen supplies store, wrote:
"I was supposed to have got stock on the weekend but the trucks are stuck due to the fear of being looted."
Joe Victor'son, who is in the trucking business, added:
"We can't take contracts that are coming from or passing through KZN/ GP. I had to cancel some contracts I was given. This has a massive effect on any business and living."
Tebogo TebJoy, who is an occupant at a residential building, shared:
"Everything is messed up. I can't even pay rent and my landlord is on my nerves. I feel like vanishing."
Thembi Mangena, who is self-employed, noted:
"My business got affected last year when the Covid started. The looting is making things worse."
One Briefly News reader, Victor Nkuna, captured the chaotic scenes, which he has had to witness playing out, through a heartfelt testimony.
"Looting has affected every SA citizen. Some people were misled by those who lost hope in their lives. The cashiers who will be without jobs also have qualifications and experience," wrote Nkuna.
"They will now be job hunting with everyone. Unemployment has just increased dramatically. Taxi drivers will suffer too as some taxi ranks are next to malls, now they will be closed. We've all suffered."
SA’s public violence crises boils over, Food shortage to erupt in its wake
Food shortages have started to become a reality for many South Africans a week into sporadic public violence and looting which started in KwaZulu-Natal before spreading to Gauteng.
Per a recent news report by Briefly News, several major food chain outlets have closed shop with others, particularly in malls, bearing the brunt of ongoing looting and the destruction of property.
Trucks carrying fast-moving consumer goods have been torched as the wave of unrest continues.
Mass production and storage facilities, including the Tastic Rice warehouse in Durban's Mobeni, where hundreds flocked to its doors in a tyrannical looting spree on Tuesday, have also been emptied.
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Source: Briefly News
