By Chioma Iruke
At least 32 people have been confirmed dead in an unrest raging in South Africa, a provincial official said on Tuesday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday deployed troops to help police halt the violence and looting sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma.
South-eastern KwaZulu-Natal — Zuma’s home region — is the epicentre of the unrest.
Protests erupted last week shortly after Zuma started serving a 15-month term for snubbing a probe into the corruption that stained his nine years in power.
The violence has so far been confined to the two most populous provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, which houses the economic hub of Johannesburg.
The toll in KwaZulu-Natal province now stands at 26, Premier Sihle Zikalala told a news conference on Tuesday, a day after officials confirmed six deaths in Gauteng province.
“These were people killed during stampedes as protesters ran riot,” he said, without specifying which parts of the province.
