Our recovery is going to be long and painful
Will we be able to come back from this? Perhaps. But to quote a line from the song Tevrede? (‘Satisfied?’) by Afrikaans band Fokofpolisiekar, ‘Hierdie gaan nog lank vat, hierdie gaan nog seermaak’. (‘This is going to take long, this is going to hurt’). At the time of writing, the economic cost of the riots, looting and vandalism that took place during July was not yet confirmed, but estimates varied from R10 billion to R30 billion. The violence that first erupted in KwaZulu-Natal and then spread to other parts of the country, reportedly following the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma after he was found in contempt of court by the Constitutional Court, was expected to cost South Africa in the region of 130 000 jobs. Investigations will still show to…