At a roadblock on the outskirts of Howick on Tuesday morning, a young black man was receiving medical attention for a bullet-wound in his hand.
He was noticeable for being the only black man among a group of about a dozen heavily-armed white men who are part of an impromptu militia who have stepped into the vacuum left by a police force hopelessly overstretched by South Africa’s worst outburst of street violence since the fall of Apartheid.
The sight of an all-white force of gunmen stopping vehicles carrying mostly black passengers brings back uncomfortable memories of the past. But residents here feel it is their last line of defence.
POLICE are caught looting goods as South Africa’s descent into lawlessness continues
Policemen in South Africa have been caught looting goods as the ransacking of stores and warehouses continued into a fifth day – amid fears of food, fuel and Covid medicines shortages caused by the rioting.
Footage showed people accosting a man wearing a police jacket beside a hatchback filled with household supplies, including bread, milk and cooking oil. The woman filming says: ‘This is a police officer, in uniform, looting … This is our SAPS (South African Police Service), guys.’
A second video from the same woman showed another purported officer in plain clothes trying to hide his face from the camera after he was hauled out of his car by locals. His vehicle was laden with allegedly looted products, including a flat-screen television.–
