Then and now: Daily Maverick returned to some of the shopping malls that were in the eye of the storm during the July riots that shook KwaZulu-Natal last year. The initial trigger for the violent upheaval that ensued was the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma exactly one year ago - on the evening of 7 July, 2021 . He had been sentenced to 15 months in jail for contempt of court.
It has been a year since the July 2021 looting, but there are many places, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, that are still reeling and struggling to recover.
The unrest - triggered by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma - left more than 340 people dead as shops were looted or burnt and violence erupted across KwaZulu-Natal and some parts of Gauteng.
According to Statistics South Africa, the riots resulted in huge job losses as they interrupted a four-quarter economic growth streak, with GDP contracting by 1.5% in the third quarter. The riots, it said, were the most expensive in post-apartheid South Africa.
Durban and Pietermaritzburg were among the worst-affected areas in KZN, but other towns were paralysed, too. They include the Newcastle CBD, Bulwer and Donnybrook. Other towns...
