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Widespread social unrest gripping South Africa following the arrest of a former president saw key logistics arteries for the continent shuttered as rioters torched trucks and caused millions of dollars in damage to stores and warehouses, spurring concerns about looming shortages.

The Road Freight Association says more than 35 trucks have been either wholly burnt out or very badly damaged since July 10 on key routes in KwaZulu-Natal province, home to sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest port of Durban, as well as in the coal-rich Mpumalanga region and the economic hub of Gauteng, where Johannesburg is located.

The arson led to the closure of the N3 highway that links Durban to Johannesburg and is also the start of trucking routes used to transport goods and commodities to and from nations as far north as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Estimating the operational-asset costs to haulers at about R300 million (US$21 million) and counting, RFA chief executive officer Gavin Kelly said that’s just the “tip of the iceberg.”

“The cost to the South African economy will run into billions of rand lost as business confidence from foreign investors, and those who use South Africa as a transit hub, turn away from us,” Kelly said. “The ‘Gateway to Africa’ has been lost and these attacks will further cement the move of transit freight from South Africa to neighbouring countries.”

The freeze on N3 movement is hurting citrus farmers in the country, which is the world’s biggest exporter of the fruits after Spain and is in the middle of its shipment season, said Christo van der Rheede, the executive director of AgriSA, the nation’s largest commercial farmers’ group.

“They can’t harvest their produce because they can’t transport it to the harbor,” he said. 

Van der Rheede has also received reports of sugarcane fields that have been razed, livestock theft and intimidation of farmers.

Soaring Joblessness

Deep discontent following years of poor government service provision, an unemployment rate that’s climbed to a record 32,6 percent and severe inequality seized upon by populist politicians have also led to the outbreak of riots.

And while the turmoil was triggered by former President Jacob Zuma’s incarceration following his conviction on contempt-of-court charges, the government says criminal elements are exploiting the instability to enrich themselves.

The unrest has left at least 72 people dead in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, and partially halted the Covid-19 vaccine rollout as private pharmacies and government inoculation sites closed amid safety concerns. 

Rioters have appropriated food, electronic goods and medical supplies from at least 800 stores, and retailers have lost an estimated R5 billion (US$339 million) to date, according to the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, an unprecedented amount.

Tallying the consequences of the looting in a speech on Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country soon faces “a huge risk of food insecurity and medication insecurity in a few weeks” — a comment that wasn’t in his prepared remarks. — Bloomberg.