More information is coming through about civil society elements collaborating to provide protection for unlooted goods and the services responsible for keeping supply lines flowing.
In the latest demonstration of citizens going beyond what’s expected of them to hold looters at bay, truckers have reported that local taxi associations are escorting them in and out of Nigel and Heidelberg.
The information, posted by the Transit Assistance Bureau (Transist), drew immediate positive response.
Said one Transist member: “From this complete anarchy, maybe all South Africans will come together.
“It is such a relief that people are working together for the better of all.”
It’s not the first time that the country has witnessed militia-style developments spurred on by the dystopian reality of lawlessness, looting, and wanton destruction of property – private, commercial, and infrastructural.
Since Monday residents in areas of Durban have taken to the streets with arms, clubs and even paintball guns in a bid to hold back crowds of anarchists advancing down city streets.
In Eshowe near Nkandla, the seat of public enemy number one whose loyalists sparked the mayhem, virtually the entire town has mobilised to save what they can from being plundered.
In Soweto armed citizens, along with police, worked throughout the night to form a human chain around Maponya Mall, preventing the same horrific ransacking that saw Jabulani Mall looted of all goods, down to store shelves and shop fittings.
In nearby Eldorado Park, residents also banded together to brave sub-zero temperatures in the early morning hours, holding back hoodlums thinking that the free-for-all looting is going to last forever.
That it has come to this, that people have to leave the comfort and safety of their homes to protect their property and nearby commercial concerns because the SA Police Service has been overwhelmed by marauders, is truly a tragic reflection of years of rotten rule under the ANC-led government.
To add to the abject ignominy of the current situation is the security cluster’s dogged denial that we find ourselves in a situation requiring a state of emergency.
The fact that citizens had to take up arms against violent looters, said the Transist member who posted the message about Heidelberg and Nigel, showed a complete inability by elected officials to lead.
Mike Fitzmaurice, chief executive of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations, concurred.
“The private sector will come out stronger if we all stand together,” he said.
