NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 12- South Africa has deployed soldiers to tackle violent protests that were triggered by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma.
This is after a series of massive lootings in shopping malls and buildings set on fire.
Zuma has since challenged his sentence at a hearing in the top court.
According to police, 6 people have been killed during the protests, while 200 have been arrested since last week.
Zuma was convicted of contempt of court after failing to attend an inquiry into corruption during his presidency.
The 79-year-old, who denies corruption, is hoping to get the sentence rescinded or reduced at the Constitutional Court hearing.
The case has sparked an unprecedented legal drama in South Africa, which has never seen a former president jailed before.
According to BBC, a shopping centre in the city of Pietermaritzburg, in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal, was set on fire on Monday. Images also showed other buildings and vehicles being set alight, and shops looted.
Police have accused opportunistic criminals of taking advantage of the protests.
“We condemn the looting and the lawlessness attached to the #FreeZumaNow demonstrations in KZN and Gauteng-this goes against the right to protest. Those responsible must face appropriate consequences,” Amnesty International South Africa said in a Tweet.
“Whilst SA does face vast levels of inequality, unemployment and poor service delivery from South African Government, we want to plead with people that looting shops and acts of criminality are not the solutions. We need an approach that safeguards everyone’s human rights.”
The violence has also spread to Johannesburg, in Gauteng province.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appealed for calm, saying there is no justification for the violence.
Zuma was convicted of defying an instruction to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his nine years in power.
He has testified only once at the inquiry into what has become known as “state capture” – meaning the siphoning-off of state assets.
The army has been deployed at hotspots in both provinces – to assist law enforcement agencies to quell the unrest that has gripped the country.
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