It’s probably too early to give a full accounting of the damages and losses from last week’s violence and looting. Most of the retailers have not yet reported the exact numbers of stores affected, although SPAR has said that 70 of its locations were looted, 60 of these in KwaZulu-Natal. “And not just looted, destroyed: IT systems smashed, ovens and fridges ripped out,” says SPAR’s marketing director Mike Prentice. “There isn’t enough private security personnel to go round, so right now our owners are just focusing on the safety of their staff,” he said, highlighting the human cost of the unrest. In the case of Shoprite, some estimates place the total at 200 stores. Massmart have said that 41 of their stores and two of its distribution centres were looted, with four sites suffering arson damage. Perhaps more noteworthy than the extent of the damage, however, is the speed at which retailers began to resume operations in the affected areas, even as uncertainty prevails in many communities. With the opening of the N3, each of the major retailers had recommenced deliveries to KZN. The looted stores, said Shoprite, were becoming operational and are re-opening for business by the hour.

Comment: Resilience, as one commentator pointed out, is not a quality you want to have to exhibit very often. But it helps to have it when the time comes.

In the midst of the chaos of the last week, the COVID crisis and the level four lockdown continued, putting additional pressures on the businesses delivering essential goods and services to the citizens of the Beloved Country. Pick n Pay is meeting demand by upping its online delivery capacity, increasing slots by 65% on the Bottles platform, which just this week has officially been renamed to Pick n Pay ASAP! and has seen demand spike in recent weeks, with triple the number of users from last year. Cape Town and Gauteng have been particularly busy. In other Pick n Pay news, animal lovers can assist charities caring for lost, abandoned, and neglected animals when they purchase the retailer’s new 100% recycled RPET bags, which have been especially designed for a drive to help raise funds in aid of the work done by NPO, Project 18, which supports these charities.

Comment: A timely reminder that our industry faces many challenges, and still has the capacity to meet them while extending a charitable hand to other needy sectors.

In good news for humans, online grocer Ocado had to cancel thousands of orders in southeast London last week, after a fire that started when three of its clever little fulfilment robots collided in its Erith warehouse. In 2019, a charging fault at another warehouse caused a fire which burned for four days. Also in the UK, German discounter Lidl has implemented a range of measures to help shoppers in their recycling efforts, the latest of which gives punters up to £2.50 off their next purchase for the return of 25 glass, tin, or plastic drink containers. The initiative is part of their ‘Circular Motion’ sustainable packaging and plastic strategy. Also in the UK, some pundits are urging Tesco to launch a price war against Asda – now in private equity hands – and Morrisons – about to be – to take advantage of the relatively greater wiggle room it has as a publicly-traded company with more cash and less debt.

Comment: People are part of the value chain, at every stage. And serving them should be the central preoccupation of every business.

Retailers were of course not the only businesses in the frontlines of last week’s unrest. Manufacturers of all sizes lost stock, production capacity, and supply chain infrastructure, putting further pressure on the food system in the affected areas. However, like the retailers they supply, those which are able have responded with remarkable speed to get their operations back up and running. By last Friday morning, for example, Pioneer Foods’ two bakeries had recommenced baking Blue Ribbon bread. RCL FOODS, which had been concerned about the supply of soya feed to one of its Pietermaritizburg farms had secured this with the opening of the N3. Tiger Brands, which lost an estimated R150m in stock, joined Unilever in announcing last week that it was temporarily suspending its consumer marketing activities as consumers faced difficulties in accessing its products. And Road Freight Association spokesperson Gavin Kelly, said the transport of food and medicine had been prioritised by association members.

Comment: As with our retailers, the beginnings of a remarkable recovery from unimaginable events.

In what passes for a good news story in these difficult times, and in the interest of closing a loop that we started drawing the better part of a decade ago in these pages, we’re pleased to report that Premier Milling has reached a settlement with the Competition Commission in the price-fixing case that began with an investigation opened in 2007 and eventually embroiled 17 companies, including Tiger Brands, Pioneer Foods, Foodcorp, Pride Milling, and Progress Milling, and independent outfits Bothaville Milling, Godrich Milling, TWK Milling, Keystone Milling, Westra Milling, Carolina Mills, Brenner Mills, Paramount Mills, NTK Milling, Kalel Mills and Blinkwater Mills. All have since settled with the Commission, from Tiger Brands which paid a R500m fine in 2010, to Premier, which as a whistle-blower paid zip, nada, and niks. The businesses, you may recall, were agreeing on prices and sharing the timing of price increases with each other between 1999 and 2007, to the detriment of South Africa’s consumers.

Comment: A powerful institution, functioning as it should in the protection of the common folk. And great South African businesses, which have learned their lesson.

What is the likely economic fallout of last week’s looting and violence? Short answer, the economists haven’t quite got the full picture yet. It seems likely though that we’ll lose GDP growth to the tune of 0.7% for adjusted projected growth of 5%, just as we were beginning the recovery from COVID-induced losses. RMB estimate total losses of at least R200bn in a sector that accounts for about 20% of gross domestic product – about R1tr. And Intellidex estimates losses of R5bn in stock, the looting and damage of 200 malls, and the looting of 500 supermarkets and 800 non-mall stores. Ethekwini, the epicentre of the upheaval, is estimated to have sustained property damages of R15bn and a GDP loss of around R20bn. The temporary closure of the SAPREF refinery, which provides about 35% of the country’s daily fuel consumption threw another curve ball into the mix. Interestingly, against this devastating economic backdrop, the dear old ZAR held its own, at R14.50 or thereabout to the USD.

Comment: Disasters will strike every economy eventually. The resilience of businesses and institutions and the speed of recovery are critical at such times.