The South African military says it is deploying soldiers in two provinces, including its economic hub of Johannesburg, to help police cope with looting and arson attacks on businesses.
According to a statement, the South African National Defence Force has started with pre-deployment processes and procedures in line with a request for assistance received.
It added it was assisting law enforcement agencies deployed in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces respectively to quell the unrest that has gripped both Provinces in the last few days.
Soldiers could already be seen patrolling the streets of Pietermaritzburg at midday, but the army stated “deployment will begin as soon as all the processes” are in place to prepare.
The duration of the deployment and the number of soldiers mobilized will be determined “according to the assessment of the situation on the ground by the police”, the military added.
The role of the military will be to provide security and a safe working environment for law enforcement agencies to do their job in better conditions while the police, widely deployed at most of the sites of violence, have often been overwhelmed in recent days.
Looting and fires spread across the country on Monday, on the fourth day of violence initially triggered by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma, and later fueled by economic desperation..
Zuma is serving time for defying a court order to testify before a state-backed inquiry probing allegations of corruption during his term as president from 2009 to 2018.
Despite his reputation for graft and scandal, the 79-year-old former anti-apartheid fighter remains popular among many poor South Africans.
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