With the dust now apparently settled on the most widespread and violent period of intense unrest in SA’s post-democratic history, businesses are looking to rebuild and investors are assessing their options. As they do so, one thing that should be abundantly clear is that a “business as usual” approach won’t work.  

Forget the motives of those who instigated the violence and looting for a moment. Instead, remember that they were able to tap into the deep-seated anger of the country’s poorest people. While opportunistic middle-class looters make for great headlines, there’s little doubt that they were in the minority. Fuelled by the economic devastation of Covid-19, SA’s unemployment rate is at an all-time high of 32.6%...