THE death toll from pro-Zuma protests in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal climbed to 72 on Tuesday evening, with many people trampled to death during looting at stores, as police and the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) members fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to try to halt the unrest set off by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma.
More than 1 200 people have been arrested in the violence and rampant looting that has raged in the two provinces.
Many of the deaths in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces occurred in chaotic stampedes as thousands of people stole food, electric appliances, liquor and clothing from stores, police Major General Mathapelo Peters said in a statement Tuesday night.
She said 27 deaths were being investigated in KwaZulu-Natal province and 45 in Gauteng province. In addition to the people crushed, she said police were investigating deaths caused by explosions when people tried to break into ATM machines, as well as other fatalities caused by shootings.
The deployment of 2,500 soldiers to support the South African police has so far failed to stop the rampant looting, although arrests were being made in some areas in Johannesburg, including Vosloorus in the eastern part of the city.
At least 1,234 people were arrested in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, authorities said, but the situation was far from under control.
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) on Tuesday welcomed the deployment of the SANDF in support of the operations of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in all the affected areas in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that “these will be augmented by the SAPS’s measures being put in place to call up operational members from leave and rest-days to increase the presence of law enforcement personnel on the ground.”
The widespread looting followed the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma, and has disrupted key major trade routes and saw businesses from banks and supermarkets to small-time traders shutting their doors
The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (JCPSC) Ministers said while the intervention of some communities to actively stop the mass lootings has been commended, and they encouraged communities not to take the law into their own hands and continue to work with the police.
State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo said state security gave police intelligence information and they acted on it immediately.
“I want South Africans to be assured that we did avert a lot. We were not missing in action and neither were the police,” said Dlodlo.
Dlodlo said government was concerned that the violence could now lead to attacks of foreign national and right-wing extremism, sparking racial tensions.
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said at this stage there was no reason to declare a State of Emergency.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said as Ministers in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster, they had the responsibility to assert the authority of the state and to safeguard the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the republic.
“We are building up, not shutting down. We will not be deterred, as South Africans, from the task ahead. If these acts of violence continue unabated, we run the risk of running out of basic food stuffs and that would be disastrous for the country,” said Cele.
“The involvement of other stakeholders is also critical in the fight against lawlessness and in this regard, we have already engaged the leadership of private security companies, in an effort to increase better working relations with the police.”
Ramaphosa appealed for calm on Monday night, and warned that the riots posed a severe threat to food security and were disrupting efforts to inoculate people against the virus that causes Covid-19.
“What we are witnessing now are opportunistic acts of criminality, with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and theft,” he said.
“The poor and the marginalized will bear the ultimate brunt of the destruction that’s currently underway.”
Looting continued Tuesday in shopping malls in Johannesburg township areas, including Jabulani Mall and Dobsonville Mall in Soweto. There also were reports of looting in KwaZulu-Natal.
In Daveyton township, east of Johannesburg, more than 100 people, including women, children and older citizens, were arrested for stealing from shops inside the Mayfair Square mall.
Some of those arrested were bleeding from shattered glass on floors slippery from spilled milk, liquor, yogurt and cleaning liquids that had been stolen from shops.
Running battles carried on as security and the police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to push back rioters, who were entering the shops by going through delivery entrances, emergency exits and climbing on roofs.
Bongani Mokoena, an employee at an auto supply store, said the rioters had taken everything from the shop, including batteries and shock absorbers.
By late afternoon the police managed to secure the mall, but rioters remained outside, throwing stones at the police and shouting for the release of those arrested. As evening fell, more rioters gathered around the mall and police set up barricades to try to keep them away.
In Soweto, the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital reported that the number of injured people coming to the emergency ward had tripled from the daily average.
The unrest forced the government to close some COVID-19 vaccination centers, disrupting urgently needed efforts to inoculate thousands of those aged 50 and older per day.
In Johannesburg’s Alexandra township, the Pan Africa shopping center continued to be ransacked and was set on fire on Tuesday.
The Alex FM radio station, which has served the Alexandra community for 27 years, was broken into at 2 a.m. Tuesday and thieves stole equipment worth 5 million rand ($350,000), forcing the station off the air, station manager Takalane Nemangowe said.
“Our on-air presenter and security guards got out safely through the back door,” Nemangowe told The Associated Press. “But the looters cleaned out our offices. They took all our broadcasting equipment, computers, laptops, microphones, everything.”
Nemangowe said that no police or army had been patrolling the area. The Alex FM station is community-funded and runs a training program for young residents, he said. “We were the voice of the voiceless here in Alexandra. And now we are silent. It is really sad.”
But Nemangowe had not given up hope. By Tuesday afternoon he and other staff had been offered facilities at a radio station in the nearby affluent Sandton suburb where they were trying to start beaming back to the Alexandra community.
Authorities have repeatedly warned people, including Zuma supporters and relatives, against using social media to encourage the riots.
Cele said Tuesday that about a dozen people have been identified as having instigated the riots.
The Constitutional Court, the country’s highest, heard Zuma’s application to have his sentence rescinded on Monday.
Zuma’s lawyer argued that the top court made errors when sentencing Zuma to prison.
After 10 hours of testimony, the judges said they would announce their decision at a later date.
- Inside Politics & Associated Press|
