The toll of violence in South Africa rose on Thursday to 117 dead, as Johannesburg, the largest city in the country, found relative calm after the deployment of soldiers and began to clear the rubble of the destruction.
The megalopolis is "largely calm," said Presidential Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, attributing the decrease in the number of incidents to the deployment of soldiers to reinforce the police.
A total of 117 people were killed, including 91 in the province of Kwazulu-Natal (East) where the violence began six days ago.
2,203 people arrested
Some 2,203 people were arrested.
Police are investigating 12 people suspected of being behind the outburst of violence in recent days.
"One of them has already been arrested and surveillance has been increased on the 11 others", declared Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, denouncing "an economic sabotage".
The first incidents erupted last week the day after the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma, sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of justice.
They spread amid rampant unemployment and new anti-Covid restrictions.
In several places, sometimes armed South Africans have decided to do justice themselves against the looters, at the risk of increasing violence.
"Racial tensions"
Earlier today, the Minister of Police confirmed that there were 20 deaths in Phoenix, a township near Durban (East) where members of the Indian community attacked suspected looters.
And affirmed that the situation there remained tense.
Bheki Cele had noted the day before that "racial tensions marred these disturbances" in Phoenix, linked to groups seeking to "protect their neighborhood from looters."
Videos of incredible violence circulate on social networks, spotted in particular via the hashtag #PhoenixMassacre.
They show men of Indian origin brutally beating young black men on the ground.
Beatings, firearms ...
Elsewhere, as in the township of Vosloorus, south of Johannesburg, others take the place of the police, beating up suspected looters before handing over some, handcuffed, to the police, according to a report. AFP team on site.
Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni called "not to take the law for yourself".
“Some brandish guns in apparent response to incidents.
If they have the right to protect their property, their life, their neighborhood ”, they must make sure not to act“ in disagreement with the law ”.
Many South Africans, relying only on themselves, have also started to clear and repair.
The South African presidency tweeted Thursday its thanks to "those who engage in the clean-up operations".
In central Johannesburg, many stores are closed.
Streets remain blocked by charred barricades.
The army to pacify
"The most terrible thing is that many traders are not insured, they can not hope for any compensation," said Michael Sun, a politician in the municipal opposition, to AFP.
The army will increase its troops on the ground, to stabilize Johannesburg and pacify the most tense areas, in particular the large cities of Kwazulu-Natal, the port of Durban and its capital Pietermaritzburg.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday authorized the deployment of 2,500 soldiers, doubled two days later.
The Minister of Defense said she wanted up to 25,000 soldiers to deal with the emergency.
"All reservists must present themselves at dawn" Thursday "in their respective units," the army chief told them the day before.
In the field, these announcements are received with relief.
"The military is a good thing, because with us, people are much more afraid of a soldier than of a policeman," Musa Mbele-Radebe, 30, among the hundreds who cleared the road, told AFP. Jabulani (Zulu for "rejoice") ravaged shopping center in Soweto.
But according to the risk consulting firm Pangea-Risk, "it is unlikely that the security situation in KwaZulu-Natal will be brought under control in the days to come".
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