Interrogating the July 2021 Looting, Burning and Violence in South Africa: Case of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN)

This paper interrogated the looting, burning and violence that occurred in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in South Africa in July 2021. The overall aim of the paper was to interrogate the looting, burning and violence in KwaZulu-Natal. The sole objective of the paper was to give an appraisal of how looting, burning and violence took place in the province. The paper deployed secondary research as its methodology and appealed to Positive and Negative Peace Theory as its theoretical underpinning. This paper sought to bridge the gap that arose from the fact that most research on violence in South Africa tend to take a national focus while hardly anything zeroed on KwaZulu-Natal as a province. The findings of the paper showed that the looting, burning and violence in KwaZulu-Natal were politically motivated, although very isolated incidences bordered on criminality. Similarly, the findings also revealed that the looting, burning and violence exhibited almost no evidence of insurrection as suggested in government circles.