According to Kommersant , citing data from Reuters, most of the dead were in the northern province of Gauteng. It includes the most populous city of Johannesburg and Pretoria, which is one of the three capital cities of the state.
In this province, 91 people have already become victims of the riots, and another 26 have died in the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal.
“2203 protesters have already been detained”, - the message says.
The reason for the start of the protests was the verdict of 79-year-old ex-President Jacob Zuma. He was accused of “seizing the state” and corruption during his tenure in power and was initially sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court, since the ex-head defiantly did not appear at the hearing. A week ago, Zuma surrendered to the authorities and was taken into custody. On the main charges of corruption and seizure of power, he faces up to 25 years in prison. Zuma does not admit the charges and calls himself a "prisoner of conscience."
Political protests by supporters of Zuma escalated into pogroms. They have become the largest in the modern history of the state. Participants of the demonstrations rob shops, arrange fights and shootings on the streets, set fire to cars, and attack migrants.
Fearing an aggravation of the crisis, the police requested help from the army, which sent about 25,000 soldiers to help the guards. At the same time, the country's authorities have warned that in the near future in some parts of the country there may be a shortage of basic food and medicine due to road closures and attacks on retail outlets. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his address to the nation, said that this has not happened since 1991 and it is necessary to end the enmity between the tribes.
The authorities called what is happening on the streets of the cities "economic sabotage." Of the 12 alleged organizers of the riots, only one has been detained so far.