Cape Town – The African Union Commission has condemned the violence in South Africa that has left at least 72 people dead and 1 234 arrested.
“The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemns in the strongest terms the surge of violence that has resulted in the deaths of civilians and appalling scenes of the looting of public and private property, destruction of infrastructure, including the suspension of essential services in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauging and other parts of South Africa,” the commission said in a statement.
The raging unrest first erupted last Friday after former president Jacob Zuma started serving a 15-month term for contempt after snubbing a probe into the corruption that stained his nine years in power.
A statement from the African Union on the current crisis in South Africa. More the 70 people have died. pic.twitter.com/Sb08JMNhdI
— Sophie Mokoena (@Sophie_Mokoena) July 13, 2021
By the weekend it started spreading to Gauteng province, and police said on Tuesday there had been a few incidents in the eastern province of Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.
Ramaphosa on Monday deployed troops to help overwhelmed police as the looting and burning of buildings spread across parts of two of the most populous provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg.
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Mahamat called for an urgent restoration of order, peace and stability in the country “in respect of the rule of law”.
He said failure to do so could “have grave impacts not only in the country but the region as a whole”.
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Additional reporting by AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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