Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, has warned that he will request that the army be deployed to areas plagued by xenophobic attacks and looting.
He was speaking during a visit to Alexandra township, north of Johannesburg on Tuesday to assess the damage caused by Monday night’s looting of shops.
At least eight people were arrested in Alexandra for public violence and more than 100 have been detained across the province since the unrest started on Sunday.
Five people were killed in riots in Johannesburg where foreign-owned shops were targeted.
Makhura has called for calm amid the unrest:
“We are calling for calm. Nobody should take the law into their own hands. It is very clear that some of these are very well-organised criminal syndicates because you can see the kinds of things they used to break into the shops and what exactly they are looking for.”
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