By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The death toll from five days of violence in South Africa has risen to 72, police said on Tuesday.
The raging unrest first erupted last Friday after former president Jacob Zuma started serving a 15-month term for contempt after snubbing a probe into the corruption that stained his nine years in power.
Total number of people arrested rises to 1 234 while number of fatalities is now at 72, the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) has said.
With the recent deployment of the Defence Force members and the augmentation of law enforcement officers by the recalling of SAPS members from leave and rest days, more boots have been on the ground to police the rampant elements of criminality perpetuated by the looting of businesses and destruction of property.
The number of arrests have risen to 1 234 (KZN 549 and GP 683).
Since an instruction was issued by the NATJOINTS to other provinces that have not been affected, to operationalise their prevention operational plans, there has been a report from Mpumalanga of an incident of looting and destruction of property in the Matsulu policing precinct with one person in custody. There has also been a report of two incidents in the Northern Cape, Galeshewe where one person has been arrested.
The two latest provinces to be affected, Mpumalnga and Northern Cape, have had their law enforcement officers patrolling identified areas of threat in an effort to deter possible opportunistic criminality.
Provincial Commissioners have in the meantime also activated the SAPS social crime prevention strategy and have been engaging with various stakeholders including community based organisations, traditional leaders and the business community in order to amplify current operational plans to best tackle the looting and destruction of property currently prevalent in KZN and GP.
Poverty has been exacerbated by severe social and economic restrictions aimed at blocking the spread of COVID-19.
Security officials said the government was working to halt the spread of the violence and looting, which has so far spread from Zuma’s home in KwaZulu-Natal province to Gauteng province surrounding the country’s biggest city Johannesburg.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced late on Monday he was dispatching troops to help overwhelmed police halt the unrest and restore order.