Economist Dr. Iraj Abedian says the unrest and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng will further discourage investor confidence in South Africa.
Violent protests in the country have been sparked by last week’s arrest and imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma.
The army has been deployed at hotspots in both provinces – to assist law enforcement agencies to quell the unrest that has gripped the country.
Abedian says this is a lose-lose situation.
The impact is that we see a further cut in the confidence the investors have both locally and internationally.
“The loss of confidence, whether from blacks or whites at the end of the day it’s a loss to society. It’s a loss of another few thousand jobs. Families tomorrow will lose their daily bread. Some people are going to lose their jobs while others are likely to go hungry and that is a reality that we need to talk to but whether we call white monopoly capital or something else the reality is that we are on the same boat we cannot sink the boat. Otherwise, we will go to a simple outcome of more poverty for everybody and the poor will be once again on the receiving end of it” says Dr. Iraj Abedian
KZN and Gauteng protests update in the video below:
Months of recovery
Meanwhile, Business Unity South Africa’s CEO Cas Coovadia says President Cyril Ramaphosa should use the disaster management laws to act against the ongoing looting and destruction of property which also undermines the government’s COVID-19 regulations.
Coovadia says it will take months for businesses that have been looted and vandalised to recover. BUSA joins the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Business Leadership South Africa in the condemnation of the looting of businesses.
“It will take weeks if not months for those business premises that have been destroyed and looted to actually be ready for doing business again and this will have an impact on people’s employment. And we call the President to consider using the disaster regulation because these people are also violating covid regulations and we’ve had precedent where the President under the stewardship of the police mobilised the military to deal with people who had broken COVID regulations.” – Additional reporting by Naledi Ngcobo
