Over 70 killed in South African protests after former President Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment

Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) – Soldiers and police were struggling to restore order in parts of South Africa on Tuesday, as police reported that the number of people killed in the days of protests and looting it rose to at least 72 in some of the worst acts of violence the country has seen in years.

Protests broke out last week when the former President Jacob Zuma, 79, turned himself in to the authorities to serve a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court. Zuma had refused to appear before an anti-corruption commission to face various charges, including bribery and fraud, which he has repeatedly denied.

Among those killed by the violence are 10 who died in a stampede in Soweto municipality, Police Ministry spokesman Lirandzu Themba told CNN. More than 1,200 people have been detained in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, where Zuma is from, and Gauteng.

For almost a week, protesters and looters have set fire to shopping malls and clashed with the police, who have responded with rubber bullets and are now so overwhelmed that the military has been called in to back them up.

CNN visited Soweto on Tuesday, where a store owner, Rahman, who did not provide his last name, said he fears he has lost everything.

“Even right now where am I going to stay, what am I going to eat, what am I going to do … we don’t know anything. Really, we are losing everything,” he told CNN.

“It’s very painful, and I don’t know what I can say about it. This is not our fault. I don’t know what happened to the government. We don’t know, but this is not our fault. We haven’t done anything. We just lose like this.”

Soldiers patrolled the streets of Johannesburg in armored personnel carriers carrying rifles with live ammunition on Tuesday as the military struggled to put some order in the aftermath of the violence.

South African Police Minister Bheki Cele vowed to curb the continuing violence that erupted over the weekend.

“We cannot allow anyone to mock our democratic state and we have instructed the security forces to redouble their efforts to stop the violence and increase their deployment on the ground,” he said, asking those who demonstrate to do so. peaceful way.

“No discontent or personal circumstance of our people gives the right to anyone to loot, vandalize and do what they please and break the law.”

The government of neighboring Botswana issued a warning Tuesday for its citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to parts of South Africa.

Monday night, the President Cyril Ramaphosa He addressed the nation to call for calm and announced that the army would be deployed in the affected provinces. He acknowledged that the protests and looting may have started out of political grievances, but said “opportunistic” criminal elements had taken control.

He also warned that continued protests and looting could further undermine the response to COVID-19 and the deployment of vaccination in the country, as several vaccination centers have been forced to stop administering doses because of the violence.

The number of deaths from covid-19 in the country has been increasing since June and doctors have described a system that is past your breaking point, with insufficient hospital beds and barely enough oxygen.

Zuma turned himself in to police last week after days of speculation about whether he would comply with court orders for his incarceration. The former president’s lawyers requested a reduction in the sentence on Monday.

Zuma was president between 2009 and 2018 and was once widely celebrated as a key figure in the country’s liberation movement. He spent 10 years in prison with anti-apartheid hero and former President Nelson Mandela.

But his nine years in power were marred by high-level corruption allegations.

Zuma is accused of corruption involving three businessmen close to him: the Atul brothers, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta and of allowing them to influence government policy, including hiring and firing ministers to align with business interests. of the family. The Guptas deny wrongdoing, but left South Africa after Zuma was ousted from the presidency.

– CNN’s Amy Cassidy contributed to this report.