麻豆约拍

South Africa has seen a spate of rioting and looting following former President Jacob Zuma's arrest last week.

Shopping malls have been looted, vehicles set alight and roads have been blocked, and the army has been called in to help quell the unrest. Even vaccine sites have stopped operating during the riots.

Sam Mkoleli is a journalist and political commentator in Johannesburg. He says that the arrest of Mr Zuma was the trigger for acts of rioting and looting that actually stem from desperation.

"What we've seen more is an expression of the difficulties and the poverty and the inequalities that are at the structural base of the problems in South Africa... The two things are intertwined but more pronounced in the protest is the suffering that people are experiencing."

(Photo: A police officer stops people looting a shop in Durban. Credit: EPA)