July 2021 may tentatively be described as a watershed in the history of South Africa, although no actual manifest destiny was revealed, no executive Solomon came forth to cut the Gordian knot and lead the nation from its torpor and deadlock, to arrest its slide into ubiquitous, deep misery. There were no falling dominos, no Arab Spring-type uprisings, no Sri Lankan-style raids on the president’s home. Yet the rioting and looting of July 2021 was new. If not in spirit, at least in scale. And it indicated a national eagerness to take matters into our own hands.
It seemed that everyone, from township-dwellers to the press, knew what was about to happen after former president Jacob Zuma’s arrest for contempt of court. There had, after all, been a veritable army of his supporters camped out in front of his Nkandla
