Analysing the Powder keg

Riots and looting have continued for a fifth day as the South African government struggles to regain control of a situation that was sparked by the jailing of former president Zuma but seems to have since taken a more broad-based social and civil unrest tone riddled with opportunism. Sad to say that the situation looks likely to get worse before it gets better with food and fuel shortages predicted now as result of the riots and looting according to reports from Bloomberg. Banks and retailers tumbled on the local stock exchange and the rand extended losses as ongoing riots hurt sentiment, with a number of businesses suffering serious damage and others destroyed. According to the SA Property Owners Association, more than 200 malls have been looted and/or destroyed so far, with at least 600 stores burned or damaged. The JSE's banking index plunged 4.45% on Tuesday, its worst one-day loss since December 2020 when the country was put into another strict lockdown during the height of the second wave of Covid-19. So what is the end game here, what are the drivers, has the state lost control and what does this all portend for the future and for investors? Michael Avery is joined by Dr Miriam Altman, Director of Altman Advisory and National Planning Commissioner; William Gumede, Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Governance and Chairperson of Democracy Works Foundation Martin Kingston Chair of the steering committee of Business for SA; Frans Cronje director at the Centre for Risk Analysis to pick their way through the detritus of the last few days.
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