Inkatha leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, former South African President FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela after signing a peace pledge ahead of the first democratic elections in 1994.
Keith Schamotta/AFP via Getty Images
This history covers twelve decades, from the surrender of Boer guerrillas in the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1902 to the July 2021 looting spree and violence.
South African police prepare guns handed in during one of several amnesties for destruction.
EFE-EPA
If proposed amendments to the law are passed, it will no longer be possible to acquire a firearm licence for self-defence in the country. This has sparked heated debate.
Residents clean up the streets and local businesses after looting incidents in Alexandra, Johannesburg.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Much of the commentary on the July riots, which cost over 300 lives and billions of rands in damage to the economy, has neglected the long history of violent protests in the country.
Trucks and business were looted and burnt during recent riots in South Africa.
EPA-EFE/Stringer
The violence wreaked its damage because South Africa’s journey to democracy remains incomplete. It sends a sharp message that the country must look its past far more squarely in the eye.
Hunger is not the cause of the current social upheaval. But, taken along with other deep-rooted structural inequalities, it provides additional fuel for socio-political conflagration.
Police enter a flooded mall that had been ransacked .
Photo by Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
An uncomfortable reality is that looting is perceived by the looters to be socially acceptable and is often encouraged and endorsed within social and community networks.
Private armed security officers take a position near a burning barricade during a joint operation with South African Police Service officers in Jeppestown, Johannesburg.
Photo by Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
Corruption thrives in a destabilised state with weak institutions. South Africa cannot be allowed back to that space because there will be no turning back.
A typical informal settlement in South Africa.
EFE-EPA/Nic Bothma