South Africa Riots Plague the Country

    A couple weeks ago South Africa was plagued with some of the worst rioting and violence it's seen this century, but what sparked these riots and how did they form? The events that lead up to the riots started back on July 8th, when former South African President Jacob Zuma was put in jail after being charged with a 15-month prison sentence. Zuma looked as having been involved in many cases of bribery and corruption during his time in power, and after refusing to cooperate with the court, Zuma received his 15-month sentence for contempt of court.

    This sentence initiated a wave of reactions around the country, specifically with Zuma's supporters who were outraged at the court's decision. From that moment forward, things only began to spiral out of control as protests turned into mobs which turned into riots, specifically in the provinces of Guateng and KwaZulu. The riots included the looting and destruction of local stores, warehouses, and government buildings alike, with local authorities unable to do much of anything to stop or even slow the path of destruction. The riots were only finally brought to a seeming end after the South African government finally took action and deployed 25,000 troops, but not before at least 215 were killed, 2500 arrested, and over $1 billion in damages was caused.

    However, South Africa is no stranger to events like these, with the country having a long history of violence and opposition to the government. Stretching from the Apartheid regime to violence surrounding most elections, and to the rioting today, it's clear the country and government do not have a tight hold over the violence and politics throughout the country. South Africa currently operates as a parliamentary system with a representative democratic republic, meaning citizens elect people to represent them, but due a lackluster system preventing corruption and fraud, many elections are not a fair democracy as the type of government would suggest. I think it's pretty clear the current political system is not strong enough, and seeing as so much of the violence in South Africa surrounds its politics, I would think a change in the way elections/government is run would be due in order to maybe help prevent future rioting like we saw these past weeks.

Sources:

https://apnews.com/article/africa-business-biden-cabinet-south-africa-2d0aaef63102a661c8e54d3bdf926566

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57996373

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/19/south-africa-riots-warning/

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-type-of-government-does-south-africa-have.html