'We are on the verge of eating each other': South Africa vigilantes say they ...

Vigilantes have said they are 'prepared to die' defending shops from looters as South Africa's lawlessness entered its seventh consecutive day and the government mobilised 25,000 troops to quell the chaos. 

Armed locals started defending shops after thousands were ransacked in riots across the country after former president Jacob Zuma was jailed on Friday for failing to appear in court on corruption charges.  

At least 72 have so far died during the chaos, with police forces totally absent or in some cases, officers participating in looting. 

Vigilantes in Soweto have rallied around Maponya Mall, one of the few shopping centres still standing after 200 others were ransacked, defending it from looters in an effort to end the unrest.   

Nhlanhla Lux, 33, described the mall as Soweto's 'last elephant' and vowed not to let it fall to rioters.

'We are on the verge of eating each other', he told the Financial Times. 'I for one am prepared to die... we can't sit back while the township economy dilapidates further'. 

It comes as the government said it would call out around 25,000 troops, including army reserves, to tackle the emergency - 10 times the number that it initially deployed. 

'All reserve members are to report for duty at first light tomorrow morning 15 July 2021 at their respective units,' army chief Lieutenant-General Lawrence Mbatha said in orders issued overnight as the unrest entered its sixth day. 

Looting continued on Thursday in KwaZulu-Natal province, but the situation was quieter in Johannesburg, where volunteers in the city's townships took part in cleanup operations.

At a cleanup at the Jabulani shopping centre in Soweto, community leader Musa Mbele-Radebe, 30, told AFP, 'The use of the army is quite good, because our people are quite scared of the army compared to the police.

'It only took four soldiers to control a situation of a thousand [people] that was gathering in this mall.'   

As the crisis escalated, the armed forces on Monday said they were sending 2,500 troops to help restore order.

The figure was criticised by many as paltry, given that 70,000 soldiers were deployed last year to enforce a strict coronavirus lockdown.

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told parliament she had submitted a request for 'plus or minus' 25,000 troops.

The request came after President Cyril Ramaphosa told leaders of political parties that parts of the country 'may soon be running short of basic provisions' following disruption to supply chains.

'The next big crisis will be the threat to food security in KZN, along with the supply of medication and fuel,' said John Steenhuisen, head of the opposition Demcratic Alliance.

'Protecting these supply chains must be a priority of the... deployment.' 

Jacob Zuma's son urged looters to 'do so responsibly' and called for his father to be freed after South Africa's lawlessness on Wednesday, the sixth consecutive day of chaos, amid fears of a 'humanitarian crisis' with food, fuel and Covid medicine shortages.       

Duduzane Zuma took to Instagram to call for his father to be freed and the Covid lockdown to end, claiming that with troops now deployed the country was 'just one massacre away from a complete spiralling out of control.'

'For the people that are protesting and looting, please do so carefully and please do so responsibly. Because you cannot hold people responsible for defending what they love,' Zuma said. 

The 37-year-old, who has his own ambitions to run the country, said that 'finger pointing' was not going to help because the government must 'feed the poor people that are looting' as he blamed lockdown-fuelled economic inequity for the chaos.

But the raging unrest has lost any sense of its loose political origins, descending into wanton lawlessness, including gang shoot-outs in the streets, people queuing up with cars to loot warehouses and malls, and wealthy Indian and white South Africans forced to take up arms to protect their homes. 

A 13-year-old boy was shot dead at a mall outside Johannesburg on Wednesday during skirmishes between vigilante taxi drivers and looters.

And two police officers were caught on camera with their cars packed full of allegedly looted household supplies and even a flat-screen television. 

Now President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised to call up more soldiers after deploying 2,500 troops to bolster overrun police forces in in Johannesburg and Durban. But rioting has also spread to Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Soweto.    

South Africans living in Britain have been left terrified for the safety of friends and family as rioting sweeps the country. 

They have been hearing firsthand accounts from family members who are living in fear as the police and army struggle to regain control.

Dorset based Beauty therapist Janine Hornby was due to enroll her 14-year-old son at a boarding school in KZN this week but has scrapped her return.

She has spoken to family members who are mounting armed patrols around their neighbourhood and manning barricades to stop the looters and rioters from reaching their homes.

With many stores burned to the ground the big fear among residents is marauding gangs of looters will turn their attention to private homes.

Janine, 48, said: 'It is complete anarchy, and I am terrified for my family and friends.

‘My brother-in-law Lance is among those who are standing guard at a barricade round the clock. They are all armed and they are there to stop the looters from coming close to their homes.

‘There are reports of the army helping out, but that has not really happened. The police are overwhelmed and cannot cope. So many people are afraid that the country will descend into civil war.’ 

Janine, who lives in Poole, said she had spoken with family members in KZN where she grew up and regularly visits.

‘I was due to go back at the weekend with my son Ethan so he could start at boarding school, but that is off. It is too dangerous, she said.

‘I am hearing terrible things. I spoke to my sister-in-law, and she said they all had sleepless nights worrying about what could happen. Many of the men have gone to stand on barricades to stop the rioters and looters from approaching homes.

‘They all have guns. It is anarchy with the shops being looted and then burned to the ground. There are all sort of horror stories going around that the rioters are trying to destroy electrical substations and water supplies.

‘Farms and livestock are also being destroyed and it all seems so organised.’ 

Janine, who has lived in the UK for 19 years has started a petition on Change.org calling for support and assistance for South Africa. More than 18,000 people have so far signed the petition.   

Meanwhile industry bosses, including fuel retailers and farmers, are warning of a 'humanitarian crisis' as the chaos means that, as well as the goods being stolen, major port cities like Durban are under siege and the country's infrastructure is blockaded. 

Law-abiding citizens were pictured this morning lining up outside a supermarket in Hillcrest in KwaZulu-Natal, trying to stock up amid fears of food shortages caused by the pillaging.

The National Hospital Network, representing 241 public hospitals, has warned it is running out of oxygen and drugs for coronavirus patients - most of which are imported from Durban.    

On Wednesday, the king of South Africa's Zulu community, the country's largest ethnic group, appealed for an end to the unrest.

'I call for peace,' Misuzulu Zulu said in a maiden speech on state television. 

The violence 'has brought great shame' on the Zulu people,' he said. 

'This chaos is destroying the economy, and it is the poor who will suffer the most,' he warned.  

The 46-year-old, who succeeded his father Goodwill Zwelithini who died in March, was flanked by the prime minister of the Zulu nation, Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

Speaking alternately in Zulu and English, the king said 'my father's people are committing suicide' as he called for restraint and peace. 

'What is even more saddening is that so many of those who are drawn to this lawlessness and criminality are members of the Zulu nation,' the king said.

'It has brought great shame upon us all... as fingers are pointed at my father's people,' he said speaking in English.

Zulus account for more than 11 million of South Africa's 59 million people.

The monarch wields moral influence over them, but does not have executive power.

A 13-year-old boy named locally as Vuso Dlamini was shot dead during a skirmish between taxi drivers and a looting mob attempting to burn down a mall in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg.

Conflicting reports said the teen was 13 or 14-years-old. Earlier the body of another looter was discovered behind the mall.  

A taxi drivers' union has been defending the mall in the absence of police. One of the cab drivers told Times Live: 'We shop and work here. This is our livelihood. No-one messes with that.' 

One looter said she was doing it purely because of the economic impacts of the lockdown. Asked by a local TV reporter if she was stealing because of Zuma's imprisonment, she said: 'No, we're looting because we have no food, we have no jobs because of the Covid lockdown.' 

Last year, the country's GDP slumped by 7 per cent - the largest decline in more than 40 years. The unemployment rate stands at 32.6 per cent, while youth unemployment has soared to a staggering 75 per cent. 

People living in neighbourhoods plagued by the rioting said they were terrified and couldn't sleep at night because of the constant gunfire.

One woman, preparing to make a 20-minute drive across Durban to visit her family, told the BBC she was

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