2021 South African unrest

2021 South African Riots
2021 South African Riots
Part of Civil unrest in South Africa
	An aerial view of the aftermath of looting from the unrest in Springfield, Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal. SANDF deployment in South Africa during the 2021 South African unrest. Looting during the unrest at a local mall in Dlamini, Soweto, Gauteng Province.
Date	9 – 18 July 2021; (1 week and 1 day)
Location	South Africa; Mostly within the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces;
Caused by	Imprisonment of former President of South Africa Jacob Zuma; Economic inequality; Criminality; Unemployment;
Goals	Release of Jacob Zuma from prison; Social justice (factions);
Methods	Arson; Civil disobedience; Demonstrations; Looting; Internet activism;
Resulted in	Widespread looting and riots; Racial tensions; Deployment of the South African National Defence Force; Economic distress; Civilian unrest; COVID-19 vaccination crisis;
Parties
Public Pro-Jacob Zuma protesters; Criminal elements; Community members, including looters;	Government of South Africa South African National Defence Force; South African Police Service; Provincial Government KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government; Gauteng Provincial Government; Public Private security guards; Community members; Neighbourhood watch groups; Vigilante groups; Business owners; Taxi associations;
Lead figures
	No centralized leadership Cyril Ramaphosa; David Mabuza; Bheki Cele; Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula; Sihle Zikalala; David Makhura
Casualties
Death(s)	354
Arrested	5,500

The 2021 South African unrest, also known as the July 2021 riots, the Zuma unrest or Zuma riots, was a wave of civil unrest that occurred in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces from 9 to 18 July 2021, sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court.^: 52 Resulting protests against the incarceration triggered wider rioting and looting, much of it said to be undertaken by people not in support of Zuma and fuelled by job layoffs and economic inequality worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic policies. The unrest began in the province of KwaZulu-Natal on the evening of 9 July, and spread to the province of Gauteng on the evening of 11 July, and was the worst violence that South Africa had experienced since the end of Apartheid.

Zuma was taken into custody after declining to testify at the Zondo Commission, an inquiry into allegations of corruption during his term as president from 2009 to 2018. The Constitutional Court reserved judgment on Zuma's application to rescind his sentence on 12 July 2021. The South African government reported that 354 people had died in the riots. As of 12 August 2022, 5,500 people had been arrested, in connection with the unrest.

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