Johannesburg – South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa said the deadly violence gripping the country’s two most densely populated provinces after unrest sparked by last week’s jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma was unprecedented.
“Parts of the country are reeling from several days and nights of public violence, destruction of property and looting of the sort rarely seen before in the history of our democracy,” Ramaphosa said in a nationally televised address.
Overwhelmed police are facing mobs who have ransacked stores, carting away anything from crates of alcohol to beds, refrigerators and bath tubs.
There is no grievance, nor any political cause, that can justify the violence and destruction that we have seen in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.https://t.co/ebZsHoiUzR
— Cyril Ramaphosa ?? #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) July 12, 2021
Ten people have died, some with gunshot wounds sustained before the army was deployed, and 489 people have been arrested.
Ramaphosa said he had “authorised the deployment of defence force personnel in support of the operations” of the police.
Earlier the army said they will assist police “to quell the unrest that has gripped both provinces in the last few days”.
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It was the second successive day Ramaphosa, addressed the nation on the violence.
The violence raged as the Constitutional Court heard an application to review its landmark decision to jail Zuma for contempt of court. Judgement was reserved after a marathon 10-hour sitting.
The country’s top court on June 29 slapped Zuma with a 15-month term for snubbing a probe into the corruption that stained his nine years in power.
Zuma began the sentence last Thursday but is seeking to have the ruling set aside.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
