Johannesburg:
A additional 22 persons have died throughout unrest raging in South Africa, a provincial official stated on Tuesday, taking the national death count from days of violence to 32.
The toll in KwaZulu-Natal province now stands at 26, premier Sihle Zikalala told a news conference on Tuesday, a day soon after officials confirmed six deaths in Gauteng province.
“These were people killed during stampedes as protesters ran riot,” he stated, without the need of specifying which components of the province.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday deployed troops to support police halt the violence and looting sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma.
Southeastern KwaZulu-Natal — Zuma’s home area — is the epicentre of the unrest.
Protests erupted last week shortly soon after Zuma began serving a 15-month term for snubbing a probe into the corruption that stained his nine years in energy.
The violence has so far been confined to the two most populous provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, which homes the financial hub of Johannesburg.
()