After days of violent protests and looting, South Africa’s military has started patrols in the affected regions. According to official information from the police on Tuesday, at least nine people have been killed and numerous injured, including four police officers.
In view of the overwhelming number of looters, the police intervened relatively late in many places. So far there have been a total of almost 500 arrests.
What began as a protest against the imprisonment of ex-President Jacob Zuma (79) has developed into widespread riots within a few days. These would have interrupted important supply chains that could “expose South Africa to a great risk of food and drug insecurity” within a few weeks, warned President Cyril Ramaphosa (68) in a televised address on Monday evening. This could have life-threatening consequences, especially during the corona pandemic.
Zuma has to answer for corruption
The northern province of Gauteng with the economic metropolis of Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria as well as Zuma’s eastern home province of KwaZulu-Natal are particularly affected.
In the port city of Durban, which was particularly hard hit there, the city administration announced on Tuesday that there could be problems because of the protests with the city’s supply services – such as the water supply. Urgent repair work could not be carried out.
Zuma was sentenced to a 15-month prison sentence last week for disregarding the judiciary, starting on Wednesday. He has to answer before a commission of inquiry into various allegations of corruption during his term of office (2009-2018), but did not accept a subpoena. (SDA)