In the Indian-majority township of Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal, some of the residents had armed themselves to fight off looters, due to the absence of police forces. In KwaZula-Natal, 2,763 people had been arrested by 24 July 2021. ģ54 people died due to the unrest according to the South African government, while 5,500 were arrested by 12 August 2022. The incident played a part in escalating the unrest. An incident occurred at Southgate Spar, a supermarket near a township in Pietermaritzburg, as an unnamed 15-year-old boy was shot in the chest with a rubber bullet fired by police in the midst of the unrest and later succumbed to his wounds. The violence quickly escalated, and by the morning of 12 July, multiple companies and malls were forced to close following widespread looting and violence. The riots continued on the evening of 11 July, when multiple news sources indicated reports of gunshots and explosions heard at local malls and residential areas. Public violence, burglary, and malicious damage to property were reported in parts of KwaZulu-Natal, with at least 28 people being arrested and a highway being blocked. On 9 July 2021, the same day Pietermaritzburg High Court upheld his conviction and prison sentence, the unrest began. The Presidency of South Africa Riots and looting Report of the Expert Panel into the July 2021 Civil Unrest (29 November 2021), pg 52. "According to the Minister of Police, the planned violence was intended to make the entire country ungovernable, but it had gained the most traction in the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, which had significant numbers of outspoken individuals and groups opposing the sentencing and incarceration of former President Zuma." His imprisonment led to violent protests by his supporters in KwaZulu-Natal, which quickly developed into widespread looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Zuma challenged his detention on 9 July in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on the grounds of health but this was rejected. On 8 July 2021, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola announced that Zuma would be eligible for parole upon serving a quarter of his 15-month sentence. Supporters had gathered near his home with weapons to prevent his arrest but he handed himself over to the police on 7 July, and was jailed at the Estcourt Correctional Centre. If Zuma refused to surrender by 4 July, the police were given until 7 July to arrest him. On 3 July, the court agreed to hear his application on 12 July. He was given until the end of 4 July to hand himself in, after which the South African Police Service would be obliged to arrest him. The case ultimately proceeded to the Constitutional Court. On 29 June 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court, after he refused to appear at a commission his government appointed to investigate alleged corruption during his time in office, and engaged in what the judges characterised as a "politically motivated smear campaign" against the country's judiciary. According to the World Bank, income inequality has increased since 1994 in South Africa, rendering it one of the most unequal countries in the world. More than half of South Africa's population lives in poverty, with an unemployment rate of 32%. As of 12 August 2022, 5,500 people had been arrested, in connection with the unrest. The South African government reported that 354 people had died in the riots. The Constitutional Court reserved judgment on Zuma's application to rescind his sentence on 12 July 2021. Zuma was taken into custody after declining to testify at the Zondo Commission, an inquiry into allegations of corruption during his term as president from 2009 to 2018. The unrest began in the province of KwaZulu-Natal on the evening of 9 July, and spread to the province of Gauteng on the evening of 11 July, and was the worst violence that South Africa had experienced since the end of Apartheid. : 52 Resulting protests against the incarceration triggered wider rioting and looting, much of it said to be undertaken by people not in support of Zuma and fuelled by job layoffs and economic inequality worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic policies. The 2021 South African unrest, also known as the July 2021 riots, the Zuma unrest or Zuma riots, was a wave of civil unrest that occurred in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces from 9 to 18 July 2021, sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court.
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