Authorities reported on Thursday that South Africa has begun sending more than 20,000 troops to assist police in quelling week-long turmoil, with the death toll rising to 117 people in rioting and looting following the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma.
The government said 10,000 soldiers were on the streets by Thursday morning, in one of the greatest deployments of soldiers since the end of white minority rule in 1994. The South African National Defence Force has also called up its entire reserve force of 12,000 troops.
On Thursday, a convoy of more than a dozen armored personnel carriers brought soldiers into Gauteng province, South Africa's most populated, which encompasses Johannesburg, the country's largest metropolis, and Pretoria, the executive capital.
Buses, trucks, planes, and helicopters were also used to transport the big force deployment to trouble zones in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, where violence has erupted in largely poor neighborhoods for the past week.
The upheaval, which began on Friday, was sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma, but it quickly expanded to include issues over inequality and poverty.
Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the acting minister in the president, told a news conference that more than 2,200 individuals had been arrested and that Johannesburg was now "relatively calm."
The minister said the situation in KwaZulu-Natal province, the epicenter of the violence, "remains volatile, but much improved and moving toward stability."
On Wednesday, she added, almost 100 incidences of violence were documented, but fewer than three dozen on Thursday.
The violence has not yet spread to the other seven provinces of South Africa, where police are on high alert.
'It's a lot calmer now.'
According to Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, who reported from Johannesburg, the country's commercial capital was "much calmer."
“Members of the [Johannesburg] community are going door-to-door with the army, finding people who have been looting from shops and convincing them to return their belongings,” he continued.
Meanwhile, there are fears that the situation in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province, where there has been far more violence, would worsen, Smith said.
“There are already lines outside supermarkets where people are panic buying, and a refinery was forced to close due to a lack of workers. As a result, panic buying a petrol hand in stores has ensued.”
Hospitals dealing with the third wave of COVID-19 have also been hampered by the unrest. They claim to be out of oxygen and medications, the majority of which are imported via Durban.
Some immunization clinics have had to close.
Following supply chain disruptions, President Cyril Ramaphosa warned political leaders that regions of the country "may soon run out of basic provisions."
Tensions between races
Security officers strengthened their presence in Phoenix, a Durban suburb where racial tensions erupted as a result of the riots.
Phoenix residents, who are mostly Indian, have been patrolling their neighborhood in response to the violence and have been accused of killing Black people suspected of being rioters.
“It has resulted in the loss of lives. The communities are at odds and in a grave situation because it is the Indian community and the neighboring African communities,” Minister of Police Bheki Cele said at a news conference in Phoenix on Thursday, adding that 15 people had been killed.
Cele had previously stated that approximately 12 people were under investigation for inciting and planning the incident.
In an appeal to his tribe on Wednesday, the new Zulu king, Misizulu Zulu, said, "The Indian nation here in KZN is the second largest outside of India."
“We have coexisted peacefully with them for many years. As a result, I implore you to be understanding and considerate towards one another.”
Zuma's incarceration
Zuma, 79, was jailed last month for refusing to testify at a court inquiry into high-level corruption during his tenure as president, which spanned 2009 to 2018.
In a second case, he pleaded not guilty to allegations of corruption, fraud, racketeering, and money laundering.
He claims he is the target of a witch hunt waged by his political opponents.
Zuma's demise has sparked a power battle inside the African National Congress (ANC), which has dominated South Africa since 1994 when apartheid ended.
The strongest opposition to President Ramaphosa is made up of former president Zuma's supporters.
