Those in the country are now warning that the country is a tinderbox at risk of wide-scale unrest or even something similar to the revolutions seen in 2011 across the Arab world. Such examples of unrest and disproportionate violence are now becoming normal in South Africa.Īmid increasing poverty, inequality and unemployment, the 'Rainbow Nation' described by Nelson Mandela when he came to power in 1994 is no more. That was followed by thousands of angry residents attacking a group of illegal miners they believed to be responsible with machetes, golf clubs and hammers. Just days later, it was followed by a horrific gang rape of eight young women near a gold mine in another township, Kagiso. Scorch marks and rubbish were everywhere.įour people were killed after protests over the rising cost of electricity and water in the historically poor South African township east of Johannesburg turned violent earlier this month.

Chunks of concrete and bricks ripped out of nearby walls to form rudimentary barricades lay scattered across the streets.

A municipal building had been turned into a blackened shell. The streets of Tembisa looked like a war zone.īurnt-out carcasses of cars sat there like angry tombstones.

South africa township violence