Sad scenes of looting and carnage continue in South Africa; over 70 dead

Watching the going’s on and the chaos in South Africa one might be forgiven for thinking these are scenes out of a movie.

But, this is the reality, the situation on the ground is surreal.

The death toll in the from the post-Zuma-unrest has risen to 72. Sadly the violence still continues across South Africa and numbers of deaths and injuries will get worse.

Report Focus News has received several disturbing images and videos from our citizens journalists and correspondents on the ground in KwaZulu Natal and Gautang.

Meanwhile, the South African police said in a statement they had identified 12 people suspected of provoking the riots, and that a total of 1,234 people had been arrested.

Speaking to this ongoing carnage President Cyril Ramaphosa described this as ‘some of the worst violence witnessed in South Africa since the 1990s, before the end of apartheid, with fires started, highways blocked and businesses and warehouses looted in major cities and small towns in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces’.

It is still unclear why Ramaphosa has not declared a state of emergency in South Africa.

Report Focus News has it on good authority that more than 200 shopping malls have been looted thus far.

This does not include the small shopping centres and corner shops.

The chief executive officer of Business Leadership South Africa, Busisiwe Mavuso, said that,

“Several shopping centres in Soweto – South Africa’s largest township which was once home to Nelson Mandela – have been completely ransacked, with ATMs broken into, restaurants, stores selling alcohol and clothing shops all left in tatters.”

There was hope that the army would quickly restore calm and order, however, the looting and lawlessness has continued. The police with the assistance of the army have managed to catch a few rioters.

Report Focus News has been told that almost 800 have been arrested, but law enforcement remains heavily outnumbered.

Almost anything and everything that can be stolen or looted was stolen and looted.

In KwaZulu-Natal livestock has also been stolen – the unrest continues with ambulances coming under attack by rioters in some areas.

Most disturbing were video footages that showed a blood bank being looted in Durban and another of coffins and cassettes being stolen at a funeral directors.