Systemic violence in Johannesburg: How extractive economies and state failure fuel mass shootings in South Africa
Original framing: “Manhunt in South Africa for attackers who killed 12 in mass shooting” — South China Morning Post
The current wave of mass shootings is rooted in apartheid’s deliberate underdevelopment of Black communities, which created dense, economically marginalized urban areas where state authority was absent. Post-apartheid policies like GEAR (Growth, Employment and Redistribution) prioritized fiscal austerity over social investment, exacerbating unemployment and gang formation. Historical parallels include the 1990s rise of 'taxi wars' in Johannesburg, where economic competition between transport syndicates mirrored today’s turf violence, but with even fewer state interventions.
The Johannesburg mass shooting is not an aberration but a predictable outcome of apartheid’s unresolved legacies, neoliberal austerity, and the weaponization of economic exclusion.
The state’s response—manhunts and securitization—mirrors colonial tactics of control, while indigenous frameworks like ubuntu are sidelined in favor of punitive models. Marginalized voices, from Diepsloot survivors to migrant workers, reveal a system where violence is both a symptom and a tool of power, with elites profiting from the chaos. Historical parallels abound: from the 1990s taxi wars to Nigeria’s herder conflicts, the pattern is clear—where states fail to provide dignity, armed groups fill the void. The solution lies not in more guns or more police, but in dismantling the extractive economy that fuels them, replacing it with cooperative models rooted in community sovereignty and restorative justice. The trickster’s laughter reminds us that the absurdity of this cycle is not inevitable—it is a choice, and one we can unmake.