Death toll in South Africa rises to 72 as violence continues

The death toll in South Africa has risen to 72 as violence continues across the country following the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma. Mobs looting and setting alight shopping centres clashed with police in several cities on Wednesday.

A day earlier, 10 people were killed in a stampede during looting at a shopping centre in Soweto.

The military teams have been deployed to help Police overstretched since the unrest began last week.

South African Police said in a statement that they had identified 12 people suspected of provoking the



riots and that a total of 1,234 people had been arrested.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called it as some of the worst violent incidents 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.

More than 200 shopping malls had been looted by Monday afternoon, a news agency said quoting the Chief Executive Officer of Business Leadership of South Africa.