SA FIGHTS BACK | 10 stories you need to read about SA uniting to fight looting & clean up after unrest

After a week of chaos and violent protests that led to the destruction of properties and infrastructure, scores of South Africans in communities are uniting behind a cause to clean up in the hope of rebuilding and reopening their local businesses.

The presidency said on Thursday President Cyril Ramaphosa will conduct an oversight assessment in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal.

“The president will interact with the provincial government and security forces. The president’s visit follows government’s engagement throughout the week with different sectors of society, including organised business, interfaith leaders and political parties represented in parliament,” said the presidency.

Here are eight must-read stories:

Mobilising masses through social media

Emelda Masango, 25, offered her volunteer clean up services on the Facebook page “I Know A Guy” on Monday morning. She wrote: “Anyone who needs help to clean up after the looting in their business, I volunteer if you are around Jo’burg.”

Her post has reached more than 1,200 people who have also volunteered their services. Magango told Sunday Times Daily they will begin operations next week. 

Grannies combat looting

Evelyne, 72, is one of the sharp-eyed grandmothers in the Bertrams neighbourhood who help male patrollers in the area combat crime. Evelyne looked through her window as looters stole from local businesses to collect information to share with her neighbourhood watch team who later informed the police. 

Gunshots and a man trying jump over her wall did not deter her from protecting her community. 

Thomas Makama, founder of the neighbourhood watch, e said grannies in the area play a vital role in combating crime. He said two local shops were looted but the community managed to save up to 10 local businesses from attacks. 

‘They saved the whole shop with cooking oil’

The only business that wasn’t looted at Tugela Ferry Mall was the Shoprite outlet, thanks to quick-witted managers who grabbed bottles of oil from shelves and poured the oil outside the store when the looters approached.

“A crowd of about 5,000 started gathering outside the mall at 1am on Monday, and by 6am they had pushed down all the fences and began looting shops. At least 59 were stripped bare. They then set fire to the mall, but our security and centre management guys managed to contain it,” the Müller Group’s Wynand Müller said.

Taxi drivers defend fun fair

With heavily armed gangs of looters swarming across Vosloorus on Gauteng’s East Rand, destroying shopping malls and vandalising whatever they could not steal, a group of taxi drivers refused to allow the protesters to destroy one thing — the travelling fun park in the community.

Armed with guns, drivers and owners from the Katlehong People’s Taxi Association spent four days and nights protecting the terrified staff of Tommy’s World Fair.

Residents go door to door to recover looted goods

The Diepsloot Residents’ Association went on a door-to-door operation to recover items that were looted by community members from a nearby shopping centre.

“When things happened, we had a meeting early in the morning and decided to stay at Bambanani Mall to stop community members from looting as there were some who wanted to go back to loot,” the association’s secretary Akim Zulu told Sunday Times Daily.

Cleaning up to rebuild

Residents of Vosloorus gathered at a shopping centre in Ebony Park where they swept and cleaned up the debris after days of looting and destruction.

Local business owner Thabo Tsotetsi told TimesLIVE the community came out in numbers to reclaim the shopping centre.

“So far things are going well on our side. The community at large is participating in cleaning up the looted shops.”

Kasi brothers take on looters

A group calling themselves the Kasi Brothers vowed to keep malls in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria, safe against looters.

The group of men take shifts at more than four shopping spots in their community day and night.

“We will die for our kasi,” a member of the group, Peter Puzzle, told Sunday Times Daily.

Taxi drivers defend mall in Vosloorus

Taxi drivers from the Katlehong People’s Taxi Association and Ekurhuleni metro police officers were involved in running battles with looters since the early hours on Wednesday in Vosloorus.

At least two people were killed in the area, including a 13-year-old boy.

The Vosloorus mall was ransacked overnight, with looters pillaging a butchery, a Boxer furniture shop and grocery stores.

Employees volunteer to clean up their shop: 

Ricardo Desousa, manager of a looted butchery in Soweto’s Bara Mall, said employees volunteered to help clean the shop after attacks. He said it would take months to restock and reopen.

“They’re not going to get paid. There’s no money,” he said. 

At the Diepkloof Mall, about 50 community members armed with brooms cleaned up broken glass and packed empty shoe boxes in the shops. 

EDITORIAL | We’ve united in the best of times, and now we’re uniting in the worst of times

After some dark and harrowing days, the community spirit that has risen from the embers has been heartwarming.