South Africa Simmers in the Wake of Violence

Looters take items from an alleged foreign-owned shops during a riot in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sept. 2, 2019. Michele Spatari/AFP/Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG—A middle-aged man, his face a swollen map of blood spatters, cowered against a dirty wall in an alleyway in the Johannesburg city center.

Above his head, spray-painted in dripping ebony, were the capitalized words, “LIFE IS [expletive].”