South Africans are expected to face major food shortages in the wake of days of violent unrest across two key provinces, as rioters upend supply chains by looting supermarkets and torching delivery trucks.
Footage of empty or sparse supermarket shelves has been a staple of local news reports since the weekend, while chains such as Shoprite Holdings and Pick n Pay Stores have closed many outlets.
In parts of Durban, the coastal KwaZulu-Natal city at the center of the upheaval, long lines formed outside the few open food shops, and basics such as bread and milk were in short supply.
Photo: Reuters
“Food is going to be a problem because shops haven’t been open for three days and many with bulk storage have been looted,” said Gavin Hudson, chief executive officer of sugar producer Tongaat Hulett, which has suspended milling and refining operations outside the city.
“I think we are going to face some food issues in KwaZulu-Natal very shortly,” Hudson added.
The unrest started with protests against the arrest of former South African president Jacob Zuma, but soon degenerated into deadly and destructive rampages in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the economic hub.
Rioters have appropriated food, electronic goods and medical supplies from at least 800 stores, and retailers have lost an estimated 5 billion rand (US$340 million) to date, an unprecedented amount, the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa said.
More than 35 trucks have been destroyed, with a cost to logistics firms of at least 300 million rand and counting, the Road Freight Association said.
That has led to the closing of a key highway between Durban and Johannesburg, cutting off the flow of food and other essential goods from the country’s biggest port to its most populous city.
Citrus farmers are in the middle of export season and are among those unable to harvest and transport their produce, Agri SA executive director Christo van der Rheede said in an interview.
Sugarcane fields have been razed and livestock stolen, and commitments on exports that bring in crucial foreign exchange and support jobs might not be met, Van der Rheede added.
“South Africans are very fortunate to receive fresh fruit, fresh meat, fresh vegetables on a daily basis,” he said. “If these supply chains are disrupted, there won’t be fresh produce in stores.”
The food crisis is developing more than 18 months into a COVID-19 pandemic that has led to a spike in hunger around the world. As many as 811 million people — about one-10th of the global population — were undernourished last year, the UN said in a report on Monday.
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