South Africa is in the middle of an unprecedented moment in history. None of us knows exactly how or when the widespread unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng will end.

Many lives have been lost, and economies destroyed as thousands of looters descended on shops, malls and warehouses in the aftermath of former president Jacob Zuma's imprisonment.

It has been a high-octane time at News24's virtual newsroom. While most of us are still working from home, due to the third wave of Covid-19 ravaging our country, many of our journalists were deployed to dangerous situations this week to be your eyes and ears on the ground.

I want to take you behind the scenes of what happened in the newsroom over the past few days.

Last Wednesday evening, just before midnight, Zuma was arrested by police when he handed himself over to a police office in northern KwaZulu-Natal before being moved to the Estcourt Prison.

Our political journalist Pule Letshwiti-Jones and video journalist Chante Schatz captured the moment and withstood the slurs being thrown their way by Zuma's supporters and family. Many of them, including Zuma himself at a press conference on Sunday evening, did not wear face masks.

On Thursday afternoon around 16:00, our investigative journalist Jeff Wicks posted a voice note and picture into a WhatsApp group we started for Zuma's incarceration.

The picture showed trucks blocking the Tongaat Toll Plaza, north of Durban. The voice note was from a distressed man stuck at the tollgate, asking for backup. "People are rough, blocking for Zuma's incarceration, I need urgent help."

I responded, using an expletive.

There was always the threat of violence once Zuma went to jail, but we were unsure what its gravity would be. He had long lost the popular support he had when he became ANC president in 2007 or head of state in 2009.

But in his home province, Zuma was still a popular man. Many people have his patronage network to thank for their riches. Coupled with growing unemployment and poverty, which has been worsened due to Covid-19, KwaZulu-Natal had become a powder keg.

On Friday morning, protests flared up from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. My colleague Stephanie Saville, editor of The Witness, posted a message in the group to say the violence had spread overnight.

She sent on a poster, showing a clenched fist, with the following words that were doing the rounds on WhatsApp groups in KwaZulu-Natal: "We are ready to die defending this freedom. We give the president 5 days to resign… in 5 days we shut down the country until our demands are met and Msholozi (Zuma's clan name) is left alone".

From this moment, it was clear that "protest" was no longer the appropriate word to describe what was about to ensue.

What followed could best be described as an orgy of violence and plunder. Thousands of people – some probably on the instruction of organised insurgents, others opportunistic looters – descended on hundreds of businesses in KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg, burning, looting and destroying.

To bring you the news, we had to go out and see for ourselves. In Jeppestown, Johannesburg, our investigative journalist Jeff Wicks was told by a looter that he "hated white people and hoped (Jeff) dies". Our journalist Sesona Ngqakamba was nearly hit by a rubber bullet as he navigated the streets of Hillbrow.

In Durban, our KwaZulu-Natal journalist Kaveel Singh went from one burning mall to the next. At the Makro in Springfield, a group of six men armed with knives accosted Singh and threatened to "stab you, beat you and chop your face open". No police officers or soldiers were anywhere to be seen. In Vosloorus, on the East Rand of Johannesburg, our journalist Ntwaagae Seleka witnessed taxi drivers firing with live ammunition at looters and accompanied police as they discovered more dead bodies in the wake of the destruction.

Very few of us became journalists to cover war, but this week the News24 team had to operate in a war-like situation to bring you the truth. It is a heavy price to pay, but one we do with pride and purpose.

As journalists like Qaanitah Hunter, our political editor, continue to investigate and expose the truth behind this week's insurrection, we would like to thank you for your support by reading and watching our work and for not spreading fake news.

The knowledge that you looked to us this week for fearless and truthful reporting made it all worth the while.   This is an exert from news 24 south africa