Wake up, looters: you’re a heartbeat from being a Somali

Those residents of White City, Soweto, you saw running down the street with looted goods two weeks ago might want to stop and reflect on what their future may look like.

They may not be aware of it, or have even contemplated it, but the path from where they are today (relatively safe and prosperous) to finding themselves in a situation where they are exactly like their Somali and Pakistani and Zimbabwean victims, is very short.

As our compatriots ran amok, killing at least three people, news agency Reuters reported that Brazil was sending armed forces to keep order near its border with Venezuela. Another neighbour, Peru, declared a health emergency as a regional crisis sparked by thousands of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse escalated.

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