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South African military in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto
Photo: SIPHIWE SIBEKO / REUTERS
At least 45 people have died in the days of riots in South Africa. Ten bodies alone were found after a crowd in a looted shopping center in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto in the Gauteng province, said the head of the provincial government, David Makhura. According to the police, there was a mass panic there on Monday. The rioting and looting following the imprisonment of ex-President Jacob Zuma continued for the fifth day in a row, even though the government sent soldiers to the affected regions.
The head of government Sihle Zikalala reported 26 deaths on Tuesday from Zuma's home province of KwaZulu-Natal.
The province was the starting point of the riots on Friday, but they also spread to other parts of the country.
According to Makhura, there have been a total of 19 dead since Friday in Gauteng province.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in a televised address on Monday evening that soldiers would be sent to the two provinces to support the police.
"In the past few days and nights there have been acts of violence of a kind that we have seldom seen in the history of our democracy," said Ramaphosa.
Zuma was involved in corruption affairs
Long-time President Zuma was sentenced to a 15-month prison sentence by the Constitutional Court at the end of June for disregarding the judiciary.
While many South Africans hailed the ex-head's arrest as a success for the rule of law in the country, supporters of Zuma took to the streets.
The 79-year-old Zuma is still popular with poorer South Africans, even after numerous corruption scandals.
The former fighter against apartheid came to power in 2009 as a beacon of hope for the poor.
With many South Africans, however, he lost all credibility through his countless corruption affairs.
At the beginning of 2018, the President anticipated a dismissal with his resignation.
Since Zuma cannot appeal his sentence of 15 months in prison, his lawyers have requested that the sentence be annulled.
The Constitutional Court then decided to review the judgment again.
It is unclear when the court's decision will be made.
The protests turned violent in many places.
So far 757 people have been arrested, the majority of them in Johannesburg, said Police Minister Bheki Cele.
The police will see to it that the situation "does not get worse," he announced.
TV stations showed the looting
However, the looting continued on Tuesday, especially in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto and in Pietermaritzburg, the capital of the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Soldiers patrolled the streets of Soweto.
TV stations showed how the looters sometimes carried huge TV sets, children's bicycles, office chairs, diapers and canned goods from the shops.
The first rioters were mostly young men, later other residents came looking for food and goods to sell.
Police officers and private security guards also clashed with rioters in the Jeppe district near the center of Johannesburg on Tuesday night.
South Africa is the country most severely affected by the corona pandemic on the African continent.
The pandemic plunged the country into a severe economic crisis and caused unemployment rates to skyrocket.
lau / AFP / dpa
