More than 70 people were killed and 1,000 detained over five days as authorities continue to provoke violence and spiral looting.
South Africa has been shaken by violence and looting for five consecutive days, with more than 70 people killed while complaints about the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma escalated into the worst unrest in decades.
Following the imprisonment of the ex-leader, protests and mass looting have expanded to become a spate of anger over the inequality that persists 27 years after the end of apartheid.
Poverty has been exacerbated by severe economic and social constraints aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
More than 1,200 people have been arrested for the illegality it has suffered in poor areas of two provinces, where a community radio station was looted and forced out of the air on Tuesday and some vaccination centers were closed. COVID-19, who urgently discontinued the necessary inoculations.
Many of the deaths in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces occurred in chaotic stampede while thousands of people stole food, appliances, liquor and clothing from stores, police said.
The deployment of 2,500 soldiers to support the outnumbered South African police has so far failed to stop the rampant looting.
Here are the latest updates:
South Africa’s largest refinery closed temporarily
According to an industry official, South Africa’s largest SAPREF refinery, in the port city of Durban, has been temporarily closed as the country struggles with mass looting and the worst violence in recent years.
SAPREF has a plate capacity of 180,000 barrels per day and accounts for approximately 35 percent of the refining capacity of Africa’s most industrialized economy, a net importer of petroleum products.
IN PICTURES: Violence and looting increase in South Africa while Zuma was imprisoned
People throw stones at police as they try to loot Letsoho Mall in Katlehong, east of Johannesburg, South Africa [Themba Hadebe/AP Photo]
Police arrest detainees during protests after former South African President Jacob Zuma is imprisoned in Katlehong [Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters]
Violence will “aggravate” the situation even more: businessman
Tumelo Mosethli, a Johannesburg-based South African businessman, said the loss of jobs as a result of the riots would “aggravate” the current economic situation.
“We don’t need that, to see how people’s shops and businesses are destroyed,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Yes, people are hungry today, but tomorrow there will be more unemployment, more pain, more suffering in a nation trying to recover and rebuild itself.”
Al Jazeera’s live blog on violence and riots in South Africa on Tuesday may be is located here.
