The government is working to try to prevent food shortages as more than 200 shopping malls or centres have been vandalised in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in violent protests, acting minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said yesterday.
Of these, 156 were in KwaZulu-Natal and 52 in Gauteng. In the KwaZulu-Natal incidents, there were 464 cases opened and 1,068 arrests made to date. In Gauteng, 219 cases were opened and 686 arrests made so far.
“With the looting of the shopping malls and centres, communities are raising concerns of food shortages and stoppage of key economic activities. There are also reports of panic buying by members of the public.
“We urge members of the public to remain calm and exercise restraint during this time.
“Government is working with the National Consumer Goods Council to ensure food security. If we have members of the public flocking into the shops and malls to buy foodstuffs, we are also risking the spread of Covid-19 and it will reach uncontrollable levels,” said Ntshavheni.
Grocery shop managers and petrol station owners in some parts of Gauteng said yesterday that panic buying had caught them off guard amid concerns of possible shortages of select essential items in the province.
Agri SA, the country's main agricultural body, said farmers have been unable to get their produce to shops and markets.
SA Cane Growers said sugar mills in KwaZulu-Natal had been hit hard as cane farms were set alight, mills threatened and trucks hijacked.
Later, during a question-and-answer session, Ntshavheni said: “We’ll never allow a situation where South Africans don’t have access to food.”
She added that there were also military personnel in place at “strategic” locations to ensure fuel security.
She added that there were 5,000 SA National Defence Force members “already deployed on the ground”.
Yesterday, changes in regulations to the Disaster Management Act were gazetted, allowing political leaders to host “emergency” meetings to deal with the violent riots.
In a notice published in the government gazette on July 14, co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said regulation 21 of the state of disaster had been amended to allow gatherings related to “emergency matters”.
Previously, any large gatherings – except for funerals, limited to 50 people – were forbidden under the level 4 regulations. Gatherings will, however, only be permitted if they have been convened by MPs, members of provincial legislatures, councillors, religious and traditional leaders and leaders of political parties.
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