South Africa: more than 330 dead in violence in mid-July

Published on : 07/22/2021 – 19:07

South Africa continues to count its dead after the deadly protests in mid-July. The South African government announced Thursday, July 22, that the violence that shook the country has left a total of 337 dead, 61 more dead than the previous toll.

“South African police have revised the total number of deaths” in the Johannesburg region to 79 and in the province of Kwazulu-Natal (KZN, East) to 258 as a result of the violence, “Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said. , attributing part of this increase to “wounded who succumbed to their injuries”.

Bodies are also found here and there in buildings, hangars or industrial sites which have blazed around the port of Durban and whose clearance is just beginning.

>> Cyril Ramaphosa in Durban: “The disturbances and looting were provoked, planned and coordinated”

Jacob Zuma’s supporters accused of chaos

In the industrial suburb of Pinetown, a police officer told AFP this week that several bodies of looters had recently been found, trapped in fires or crushed by falling stocks.

Violence, looting and arson broke out on July 9 in Kwazulu-Natal, the day after former President Jacob Zuma was imprisoned for contempt of justice, before spreading to Johannesburg.

Jacob Zuma, 79, was sentenced at the end of June for stubbornly refusing to testify before a commission investigating state corruption under his chairmanship (2009-2018).

Jacob Zuma’s supporters are accused of having fomented the chaos that lasted a good week, described by President Cyril Ramaphosa as an orchestrated attempt to destabilize the country.

With AFP