Looters Regretful About July Unrest, Some South Africans Show Sympathy

• Over two months since the country saw widespread looting and violence, some communities are still dealing with the aftermath
• Many people have lost their jobs and some small businesses that were spared are losing income because of the unrest
• Some of the people who took part of the looting seem to have regret because of the inconvenience of not having a mall or shopping centre nearby any more

The impacts of the social unrest and looting that happened in July are still being widely felt by communities that lost shopping centres, malls and small businesses.

The destruction that struck parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng led to many people being left without jobs or even a source of income, adding on to the large pool of unemployed people in South Africa, according to EWN.

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Some people have lost the convenience that was afforded to them by having malls and shopping centres in their communities, they now have to travel far to get their groceries, collect grants and even do their banking.

Some small businesses in shopping centres that were not destroyed during the unrest are losing income because they no longer benefit from the standard mall traffic that the bigger outlets should bring in.

One woman who was part of the group of looters at Philani Valley Mall in KwaZulu-Natal shared her regret about participating in the looting. She says she only stole food. She blamed her participation on peer pressure.

“It was peer pressure, really. I took food items, but now our mall is gone,” she said.

According to Mail & Guardian, the damage caused during the unrest is estimated at R20 billion in KwaZulu-Natal and the national economic loss is estimated at R50 billion.

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South Africans react to looters' remorse over unrest

Twitter users had a lot to say after finding out that some of the people who played an active role in the looting and unrest were actually remorseful over their actions. Others felt that they had no choice and that the looting could be blamed on unemployment.

@Melchiz07568280 said:

"It was not peer pressure, it is continuous hunger caused by Cyril's retrenchments and non-salary increase of public servants' salaries and high youth unemployment, which are purposefully to degrade a black child."

@sanpk74 said:

"It's sad that people that were influenced by instigators are not affected by the looting. Not all free stuff is actually free. Now you pay the cost of being influenced. Next time, think for yourself."

Other Twitter users were not so sympathetic to the looters' remorse and stated that their acts were criminal behaviour.

@ndubsa said:

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"They looted out of desperation because our government fails dismally to create job opportunities, can we blame them for their actions? hell No! It's just that the unfortunate part is it never provided any positive and permanent results but only a temporal solution."

@miguelgomes said:

"You’re desperate, you see others taking stuff so you decide to take as well, so why then after that torch the place? I’m sorry but I don’t feel any remorse for the looters who after stealing still went one step further and torched the businesses that they looted from."

Alleged unrest and looting instigator Bonginkosi Khanyile granted R5 000 bail

Briefly News previously reported that one of the alleged instigators of the social unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, Bonginkosi Khanyile, was granted bail of R5 000 by the Durban Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.

In a clip posted by eNCA, Khanyile can be seen smiling, dancing and waving his fist after his bail application was approved. His supporters were also heard singing songs of jubilation celebrating the news.

The state prosecution accused Khanyile of telling people to keep intensifying the unrest until former president Jacob Zuma is released from prison. At the time, Zuma was serving a 15-month sentence at the Estcourt Correctional Facility for being in contempt of court, according to EWN.

Source: Briefly News