Order will be restored in South Africa, leader says

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s leader went to Johannesburg’s Soweto township Sunday to view badly damaged shopping centres where people were trampled to death in rioting sparked by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma.

President Cyril Ramaphosa toured the Ndofaya Mall in the Meadowlands part of Soweto, where at least 10 people died in the ransacking.

South Africa’s unrest erupted earlier this month when Zuma began serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court. He had defied a court order to testify at a state-backed inquiry investigating allegations of corruption while he was president from 2009 to 2018.

The protests quickly escalated to a weeklong spree of violence, South Africa’s worst rioting since the country achieved majority rule democracy in 1994. The unrest hit the KwaZuluNatal province, which is Zuma’s home area, and Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province, which includes Johannesburg, the country’s largest city. Trucks were burned, strategic highways blocked and thousands of rioters ransacked malls and shopping centres in the two provinces.

At least 212 people died in the unrest, many trampled to death when shops were looted, said police. More than 2,500 people have been arrested for theft and vandalism. “We are all really concerned about what happened here,” Ramaphosa said. “But we are also saying we have learned valuable lessons. The most important lesson is, in the end, that we must tighten up our security forces.”

Ramaphosa reiterated his pledge that those who plotted the rioting would be brought to justice. “They’ll be arrested, all those who are behind this damage,” he vowed. “We are going to make sure that they are arrested and sent to prison for a long time.”