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The riots were triggered by a peaceful protest by relatives of 29-year-old Mark Duggan who was shot dead last Thursday night by police in Tottenham.
Police claim Duggan was a drug dealer.
However, political scientist Professor John Makumbe, yesterday said social and economic problems triggered the UK riots.
He took a swipe at authorities there over the manner in which they were trying to quell the disturbances.
“There is a lot of unemployment. The economy is not doing well and the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider. There is social disobedience. There is a lot of anger and it has now been triggered by the shooting of a coloured person,” he said.
Prof Makumbe said events in Britain “were part and parcel of a capitalist system that is failing to provide adequate jobs and income to its own people”.
He condemned the manner the British police were handling the situation.
“This has shown that police are the same all over the world. If they are to keep law and order they use force. We saw that in South Africa, Swaziland and Greece. This has also shown that the British are not purer than other human beings.
“They are being forced to use what they themselves call draconian rules to quell the riots. At least the British cannot handle the candle to anyone anymore. They are just like anyone,” added Prof Makumbe.
Professor Jonathan Moyo said the shooting of Duggan was far removed from the causes of the riots in Britain.
“There is not even one incident where the shooting of a person has caused a riot where there are no simmering problems. These are issues, which have been boiling and building up over the last 10 years. What is going on is a case of poor governance. Poor governance with no representation and this has been worsened by the rise of right wing politics. The riots are a statement about the state of politics in Britain today,” Prof Moyo said.
He said the decision by the British leadership to cut the budget on social services was a good example of poor governance as such policies tend to “protect the rich by taking away from the poor”.
Prof Moyo also castigated British authorities for responding to the disturbances with racist insensitivity.
“Fundamentally, it is a governance issue yet the British authorities are responding in a way betraying their general insensitivity,” he added.
Prof Moyo said the riots had also exposed Britain and the United States’ double standards in dealing with issues of civil unrest.
“What they call criminality in the UK is supposed to be democracy and human rights in North Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi. In Britain it is lawlessness, in Malawi it is democracy. That is double standards.
“Many of us are looking at it as God’s way of teaching Britain and America a moral lesson. What is happening everywhere in the world with their support is now happening in their backyard,” he said.
“In the so-called Arab springs, Britain and its allies viewed twitter and blackberry messenger as instruments of democracy, but are now viewing the same in London as instruments of criminality and disorder. They cannot have it both ways,” Prof Moyo said.
Another political observer, Mr Goodwine Mureriwa, said the shooting of Duggan only triggered an already boiling situation that was waiting to explode.
“What is happening in the UK shows that capitalism is slowly killing itself. The riots are a manifestation of the evil of capitalism and the manifestations are coming from capitalist countries that are the champions of this system,” he said.
Online Reporter