DURBAN - RESIDENTS in several parts of Durban and Pietermaritzburg queued outside shops from the early hours of yesterday morning, anxious to get food and essentials.
With shops looted and torched in several areas in both cities, residents flocked to stores that had not been affected, panic-buying whatever they could find.
Glenwood and Umbilo ward councillor Mmabatho Tembe said: “Although we understand panic buying with all the uncertainty in the province at large, we are asking people to be considerate in their purchases. Old people who live alone and in old-age homes still need to buy the same milk, bread and toilet paper that people are buying in bulk.”
Isipingo ward councillor Sunil Brijmohan said residents were mobilising to protect local shops to ensure that people could access supplies.
He said rice and canned fish were the most popular essential buys.
“There is a huge vacuum of information flow and guidance from the local government on how we should proceed. So we are applying common sense and previous experience to ensure some food and essential security.
“Law-abiding citizens are willing to pay for essentials. We have a community supply store that has been helping the public to ration their purchases. Tomorrow (today) a larger shop that has been closed and evaded looting will allow each family 10 minutes to get their groceries.
“We appeal to residents to not get trolley-loads when they are given their turn and just stick to the essentials,” said Brijmohan.
Samantha Windvogel, the ward 65 councillor, which covers areas including Seaview, Bellair, Hillary, Malvern, said there were no adequate essentials.
Windvogel said while the petrol stations had fuel, the queues were crazy. Queues were also long at grocery stores, she said.
“We are in a crisis, and very soon we, as well as the stores that are open, will run out of what we have. We are in extremely trying times,” she said.
Gavin Hegter, councillor ward 64, which covers areas including Montclair, Woodlands, Woodhaven and Yellowwood Park, said part of his ward was a war zone.
“The part of the ward that covers Montclair and Woodlands is a complete war zone.
“The Montclair Mall, which has a Pick n Pay and the BP Service station, as well as all the other shops, were totally looted. Some of the shops were set alight,” he said. “The Woodlands, Montclair area has nothing, they are totally without.”
Hegter said there were two service stations in the area that had opened for limited supplies.
“They are running out very quickly and they are limiting the fuel and mainly allowing the community patrollers and people guarding the areas to get fuel,” said Hegter.
He said the communities of Yellowwood Park and Woodhaven had come together to man the two entrances and exits in the area. He said one shop was opened in the area but there was panic buying. “There are hundreds and hundreds of people queuing up here in the hope of getting something. People are getting upset and it is quite nerve-racking, but we are trying to assist,” he said.
Joyce Johnson, councillor for ward 11, which covers Newlands East, Briardale, Parkvale and Quarry Heights, said no stores were currently open.
Johnson said several stores in the Newlands East Mall were looted and several community members were trying to barricade the entry and exit points in the area.
“There’s no way residents are going to get any groceries and I think it’s the same everywhere,”she said.
A Pietermaritzburg councillor called for SANDF members to assist in protecting the local shops in Prestbury and Blackridge from possible looting.
This is after residents in the Pietermaritzburg suburb braved the night, often taking shifts to protect a local shopping complex that includes a supermarket and a petrol station.
Ward councillor Ross Strachan said the residents were demonstrating their commitment to the rule of law and the need to protect important infrastructure.
“Residents together with the SAPS have physically blocked off all arterial roads into the communities to avoid traffic coming through,” said Strachan.
The move was allegedly prompted by rumours on Monday that people from Mpumuza and Sweetwaters – the semi-rural parts of Pietermaritzburg that fall under Inkosi Nsikayezwe Zondi – were planning to raid the local shopping complex.
Strachan said the move by locals to protect the infrastructure had put them in harm’s way from those planning to loot the area.
“We are pleading for SANDF presence to help take our citizens out of the front lines before someone gets hurt protecting their community,” the councillor added.
Local resident Senzo Ngwane said the effort was intended to ensure that properties were protected.
“The fear is once you allow the looting of shops to take place, how safe will our homes be when there is nothing left at the shops?
“So that is why we are taking this stand,” he said yesterday.
AS KWAZULU-NATAL Premier Sihle Zikalala estimated that this week’s looting and sabotage will cost more than R1 billion in repairs, the state-owned insurer for private and public entities said it was all geared up to assist with claims.
While the eThekwini municipal bus and refuse collection services remained suspended for safety reasons, Zikalala said most municipalities in the province were affected by the looting, with the destruction of infrastructure and service delivery disruptions.
“We estimate that the destruction to both private and public infrastructure will amount to not less than R1bn, and that is a very conservative estimate,” said Zikalala, who delivered a State of the Province update yesterday morning following a night of continued looting of supermarkets and small businesses.
The SA Special Risk Insurance Association (Sasria) said it was too early to quantify the extent of the damage in terms of monetary value, as the affected were still working with their agents to assess the losses.
Not all the claims would have been furnished to the association, as riots were still continuing, said Fareedah Benjamin, Sasria’s executive manager for insurance operations.
The biggest claim paid by the association in the recent past was about R1.7bn, which was paid from the 2018/19 financial year budget, in relation to the then countrywide service delivery protests, she said.
“From the time when the (current) protests broke out on Friday, we immediately galvanised our well-trained claims handlers. Our agents have been on the ground, working with public and private entities, and individuals, to assess damages,” said Benjamin, who added the current destruction was within the ambit of the association.
“In terms of the magnitude, the destruction of material infrastructure and looting of contents, is huge. But we are more than capacitated to deal with it in terms of our mandate. Our brokers and loss adjusters have already started to work with those who have filed claims. They are also assisting all our clients to ensure that their policies are in order. We want to assure our clients that we are more than ready to assist in ensuring that claims are processed successfully,” she said.
During the service-delivery protests of 2018/19, Sasria, which falls under the National Treasury, had paid about R200 million for damages in Pretoria alone.
The 2015 #FeesMustFall campaign had led to the insurer parting with about R450m for repairs at various higher education institutions, whose property was destroyed.
Zikalala said due to the continuing unrest, maintenance and infrastructure repair teams were unable to get to areas that required such services.
“The sporadic outbreaks of violence have also hindered the delivery of basic services, such as waste removal and provision of water – via water tankers – in water-scarce communities,” he said.
“The torching of municipal assets, such as the Disaster Management offices in Mtubatuba, and water tankers in the Ugu District, which has long been battling with the provision of water, is set to have a devastating impact. EThekwini metro had to cease rendering certain services, such as buses, in the interest of protecting workers, commuters and assets during this volatile situation. Other municipalities had to halt the collection of waste in their areas, while most call centres cannot operate as workers cannot get to work for fear of their lives,” said Zikalala, who welcomed the deployment of the SA National Defence Force in support of police.
The city said in a statement that customer service centres were closed “until further notice”.
At least 26 people were reported by the provincial Cabinet’s security cluster to have died in the carnage, according to Zikalala.
THE MERCURY