Death toll in South Africa violence rises to 212; 25,000 defence personnel deployed

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday authorised the deployment of 25,000 Armed forces personnel as the death toll due to the violence in the country rose to 212.

According to the government, 180 people died in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province which was the epicentre of the violence. The unrest was triggered last week with the arrest of ex-president Jacob Zuma over corruption charges.

Zuma's home province of KwaZulu-Natal witnessed protests which spread to other cities descending into large scale looting of shops and business establishments.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa said the looting was "planned" and instigated as police arrested one of the suspected instigators.

Ramaphosa said the authorities were "overwhelmed" by the situation. "The situation could have been much worse," the president said while backing the police.

The police said looting was still going on with Kawzulu-Natal's airport King Shaka International targeted by gangs. The situation in Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu Natal is reportedly still unstable.

The government said KwaZulu-Natal province had reported additional 89 deaths over the past 24 hours with at least 2,550 people arrested.

The violence occurred as the country faces a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic with medical aidin short supply.

The South African president had earlier warned about supply chain disruption including fuel, food and medicine shortage even as World Health Organisation's Africa chiefMatshidiso Moeti said there could be a surge in infections after days of rioting and looting.

(With inputs from Agencies)