Stores and warehouses in South Africa were hit by looters yesterday for a sixth day running despite the troops President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed to try to quell unrest that has claimed atleast 72 lives.
As pillaging erupted in the economic capital of Johannesburg and the southeastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’s main opposition accused radicals of stoking the unrest.
Africa Daily News, New York gathered that the armed forces were sending 2,500 soldiers to help the overwhelmed police.
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The raging unrest first erupted last Friday after former president Jacob Zuma started serving a 15-month term for contempt, having snubbed a probe into the corruption that stained his nine years in power.
By the weekend, it started spreading to Gauteng province.
‘The total number of people who have lost their lives since the beginning of these protests … has risen to 72,’ the police said in a statement.
Most of the deaths ‘relate to stampedes that occurred during incidents of looting of shops’, it said.
Others were linked to shootings and explosions of bank ATMs.
The number of arrests has risen to 1,234, although many thousands have been involved in the ransacking sprees.
Earlier TV footage sighted by Africa Daily News, New York showed dozens of women, some wearing their dressing gowns, men and even children strolling into a butcher in Soweto, coming out balancing heavy boxes of frozen meat on their heads or shoulders.
Police showed up three hours later and fired rubber bullets. Soldiers eventually followed.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
