South Africa unrest: Death toll rises to 32

Post created on 3:18 pm

Looters outside a shopping centre alongside a burning barricade in Durban, South Africa, Monday July 12, 2021. Police say six people are dead and more than 200 have been arrested amid escalating violence during rioting that broke out following the imprisonment of South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma. (AP Photo/Andre Swart)

South Africa’s rioting continued Tuesday with the death toll rising to 32 as police and the military struggle to quell the looting and violence in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

The toll in KwaZulu-Natal province now stands at 26, premier Sihle Zikalala told a news conference on Tuesday, a day after officials confirmed six deaths in Gauteng province.

“These were people killed during stampedes as protesters ran riot,” he said, without specifying which parts of the province.

Soldiers guard an autobahn at the Bara taxi rank shops in Soweto, Johannesburg, Monday, July 12, 2021. Police say six people are dead and more than 200 have been arrested amid escalating violence during rioting that broke out following the imprisonment of South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma. (AP Photo/Ali Greeff)

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday deployed troops to help police halt the violence and looting sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma.

Southeastern KwaZulu-Natal — Zuma’s home region — is the epicentre of the unrest.

Protests erupted last week shortly after Zuma started serving a 15-month term for snubbing a probe into the corruption that stained his nine years in power.

The violence has so far been confined to the two most populous provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, which houses the economic hub of Johannesburg.