A burnt truck blocks a road in Durban on July 12 2021 as protests continued over the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma.Business Unity SA says it welcomes the mobilisation of the military to help hard-pressed police units restore order in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal hit by violent protests and opportunistic incidents of crime since Friday.the country millions as rioters set fire to trucks, burnt buildings and looted stores in hotspots around the country.
Protestors barricaded the highway with mounds of sand and stopped and looted trucks. The protests were triggered by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma last week, but have growing significantly and spread into other parts of the country.The violence spread to Gauteng on Sunday with violence and looting flaring up in Alexandra and parts of the Johannesburg CBD.A group of about 300 people who had blocked the M2 highway were dispersed by police.
Later in the day, police officers escorted an armoured ambulance to fetch patients from the clinic and transfer them to Helen Joseph Hospital.Six people have been killed during the protests and dozens injured.This cannot be tolerated in a constitutional democracy in which the preservation of law and order and the protection of people’s rights are paramount.Coovadia said the critical issue was that small groups of people were destroying property, endangering lives and holding the country hostage.