Despite the army deployed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to try to quell rioting that has claimed 72 lives, stores and warehouses in South Africa were looted for the fifth day in a row on Tuesday.
As looting erupted in Johannesburg, South Africa's economic hub and the southeastern state of KwaZulu-Natal, the country's main opposition accused extremists of fomenting the turmoil.
The military was sending 2,500 soldiers to assist the overburdened police.
However, these numbers pale in comparison to the more than 70,000 militaries deployed to enforce the coronavirus lockdown last year, and only a few soldiers were observed at certain retail malls.
The simmering turmoil began last Friday when former President Jacob Zuma began serving a 15-month contempt sentence for snubbing a probe into the corruption that tarnished his nine years in authority.
It had spread to Gauteng province by the weekend.
“Since the start of these protests... the total number of people who have died has risen to 72,” police said in a statement late Tuesday.
The majority of the deaths were caused by stampedes that happened after shoplifting episodes, according to the report.
Others were tied to bank ATM shootings and explosions.
The number of arrests has grown to 1,234, despite the fact that the ransacking sprees have involved thousands of people.
Plundering ‘for my mother'
Earlier television footage showed hundreds of ladies, some in their robes, men, and even children marching inside a Soweto butcher and emerging with enormous crates of frozen meat balanced on their heads or shoulders.
Three hours later, police arrived and fired rubber bullets. Soldiers arrived soon after.
Hundreds of people poured into and out of a retail mall in Alexandra, a suburb north of Johannesburg, freely grabbing food.
Looters who talked to AFP said they were caught up in the rush or saw an opportunity to improve a life that had been ravaged by poverty.
“I'm not worried about Zuma at all. “He's a corrupt old man who deserves to be locked up,” a 30-year-old car wash employee stated.
He acknowledged removing stainless-steel pans, meat, and supplies from the store for his mother.
People in Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal, carried packaged refrigerators through bushes to a large queue of automobiles stopped along a roadway.
Aerial footage from Durban showed hundreds of people robbing a large shopping mall and hauling away huge boxes of merchandise.
After businesses below her apartment were set on fire, a lady was spotted throwing her infant off the first level of a building to save her from the flames. The toddler landed safely on the street with a gathering of adults.
'Anarchy'
Ramaphosa slammed "opportunistic acts of criminality, with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and theft" in a nationwide address Monday night.
“Violence, looting, and anarchy are paths that only lead to more violence and devastation,” Ramaphosa stated.
The African Union Commission's chair denounced "the surge of violence that has resulted in civilian deaths and appalling scenes of looting," urging for "immediate restoration of order."
The Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party, stated on Tuesday that it would file criminal charges against Zuma's children and Julius Malema, the leader of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
The party accused them of using "social media to express comments that appear to encourage and incite violence and looting," according to a statement.
Zuma, dubbed the "Teflon president," was sentenced to prison on June 29 by the Constitutional Court for refusing to testify before a commission investigating wrongdoing during his government.
After turning himself into authorities on Thursday, he began completing his sentence.
He is attempting to get the decision overturned.
Zuma's ubiquity
Zuma, 79, is a former anti-apartheid activist who served ten years on the infamous Robben Island prison off the coast of Cape Town.
In democratic South Africa, he progressed through the ranks to vice president and then president before being deposed by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in 2018 amid a slew of scandals.
However, he continues to be popular among many poor South Africans, particularly ANC grassroots members, who see him as a champion of the oppressed.
South Africa is mired in a serious economic crisis, with cripplingly high unemployment rates. Restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus have already had a negative impact on the economy.
