Independent retailer Vimal Ambaram last week watched his high-end menswear boutique in the Durban CBD being ransacked in real time.
Connected to store cameras through his phone, Ambaram watched helplessly as looters tried on the expensive suits and shoes that can sell for as much R5,000, making sure they stole well-fitting items.
He then logged into the security cameras connected to three more of his KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) stores to view their destruction too. In total, four of his Fratelli and Shortys outlets were looted.
"The impact is disastrous. They looted 110% in 45 minutes," he says, even taking the inverters used during load-shedding. And in the days that followed, more people came in to hunt for anything left behind.
In the wake of the looting, the Durban CBD is "on its knees", says Ambaram. In part, that’s because many of the smaller businesses there are underinsured — a means to keep prices down.
Not that the big retailers were spared. The listed retailer updates came in thick and fast late last week, with property experts estimating that at least 3,000 stores were damaged.
Among those looted were outlets belonging to Massmart (41), Spar (184), and TFG (190). Furniture retailer Lewis lost 58 stores to looting, and Steers and Debonairs owner Famous Brands reported 99 stores trashed; 489 Pepkor stores — almost one-tenth of its footprint — were looted.
Retailability lost its main distribution centre in an arson attack, wiping out short-term stock for brands such as Legit, Beaver Canoe and Edgars.
And alcohol producer Distell and brewers SAB and Heineken all had distribution centres ransacked and cleared out.
Lucky Ntimane, convener of the National Liquor Traders Council, says the industry believes the attacks were both politically orchestrated and co-ordinated by organised crime syndicates to grow the illicit alcohol sector.
Small towns have been badly affected too.
On Monday, representatives of about 60 farming areas across KZN responded to a survey by the provincial agricultural union, answering questions about the state of their towns.
They reported that 15% of towns’ economic infrastructure had been trashed.
"Contrary to what is believed, the looting and rioting were not only centred in the larger cities and towns, but also in smaller communities," says union CEO Sandy la Marque. "It could have been far worse if farmers and communities had not stood together to protect the remainder of towns."
Unrest also affected food security. Last Tuesday, about 3,000 people surrounded a Rainbow Chickens factory in Hammarsdale, according to RCL Foods spokesperson Stephen Heath.
Though they didn’t get in, agricultural supply chains are time-sensitive, so keeping chickens in trucks without water while waiting outside closed production facilities was far from ideal.
The opening of the N3 stabilised food, animal and bread production by the end of the week. But now the clean-up begins.
So far, big companies are saying all the right things. Massmart’s Mitchell Slape is writing to staff daily.
And new Pick n Pay CEO Pieter Boone — only in office, and in SA, for 100-odd days — has visited sites in KZN as trucks began transporting food for aid and the restocking of stores.
"The response has been truly inspiring, and underlines to me why SA is such a special place," he says.
But not every business will feel that way.
Retailer and former Tekkie Town CEO Bernard Mostert says many smaller businesses will not have sufficient insurance to survive the damage.
"If you don’t have cash flow, rebuilding is going to be a big problem," he tells the FM.
Mostert says the mental damage to small business owners, after 16 months of Covid and setback after setback, has been enormous. "I think my big fear is you have somebody, an entrepreneur, who has enough confidence to step out and forgo a salary and … build from the ground up, and then you suffer this blow," he says. "You might start to lose your mental resilience."
Ambaram says friends who own stores in the Durban CBD have told him angrily that they won’t reopen. He says he, too, initially thought of selling up and emigrating. But he’s concerned about his 120 staff, some of whom are much older than he is and worked for his late father, who started the clothing business.
He has, however, cut back. On Tuesday, he cancelled a contract to expand two stores in Umhlanga’s Gateway mall.
He can’t expand in this environment, he says. The anti-shoplifting tags alone cost R5 apiece. He needs a minimum of 5,000 — so that’s R25,000 before factoring in anything else.
There’s also the issue of supply shortages, after warehouses — including one of his own — were burnt down.
On the whole, though, Ambaram thinks many businesses will have no choice but to reopen. "It’s our bread and butter," he explains. "It’s what we do."
*An earlier version of this story noted that 31 Massmart stories had been damaged in the unrest
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