Cape Town
\nCrowds looted shops and offices in South Africa on Wednesday, defying government calls to end a week of violence that has killed more than 70 people and wrecked hundreds of businesses.
\nThe unrest, the worst in South Africa for years, also disrupted hospitals struggling to cope with a third wave of COVID-19 and forced the closure of a refinery.
\nProtests triggered by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma for failing to appear at a corruption inquiry last week have widened into looting and an outpouring of general anger over the hardship and inequality that persist 27 years after the end of apartheid.
\nShopping malls and warehouses have been ransacked or set ablaze in several cities, mostly in Zuma\u2019s home in KwaZulu-Natal province, and the financial and economic center Johannesburg and surrounding Gauteng province. read more .
\nOvernight it spread to two other provinces – Mpumalanga, just east of Gauteng, and Northern Cape, police said.
\nA Reuters photographer saw several shops being looted in the town of Hammersdale, Kwazulu-Natal, on Wednesday. Local TV stations meanwhile showed more looting of shops in South Africa\u2019s largest township Soweto, and in the Indian Ocean port city of Durban.
\nSoldiers have been sent onto the streets to help outnumbered police contain the unrest and order was being restored in some places on Wednesday, such as the northern Johannesburg township of Alexandra, local TV reported.
\nThe National Hospital Network, representing 241 public hospitals already under strain from Africa\u2019s worst COVID-19 epidemic, said it was running out of oxygen and drugs, most of which are imported through Durban, as well as food.
\nStaff in affected areas were unable to get to work, it said, worsening shortages caused by a third wave of infections.
\n\u201cThe impact of the looting and destruction is having dire consequences on hospitals,\u201d it said. \u201cAnd the epicentre of the pandemic is within the affected provinces currently under siege.\u201d
\nSouth Africa\u2019s largest refinery SAPREF in Durban has been temporarily shut down, an industry official said on Wednesday.
\nThe poverty and inequality fuelling the unrest has been compounded by severe social and economic restrictions aimed at curbing COVID-19. The United Nations in South Africa expressed concern that disruptions to transport for workers from the riots would make things even worse.
\n\u201cThis will exacerbate…joblessness, poverty and inequality,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cape Town Crowds looted shops and offices in South Africa on Wednesday, defying government calls to end a week of violence that has killed more than 70 people and wrecked hundreds of businesses. The unrest, the worst in South Africa for years, also disrupted hospitals struggling to cope with a third wave of COVID-19 and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n