• Protests erupted in South Africa last week after former President Jacob Zuma handed himself in to police.
• Experts have suggested that underlying issues such as "rampant unemployment, widespread inequality and discontent with Covid-19 related restrictions are the powder keg."

Protests erupted in South Africa last week after former President Jacob Zuma handed himself in to police to serve a 15-month jail term for contempt of court.

The government is now preparing to deploy more troops to tackle widespread riots and looting concentrated in the densely-populated Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, with 72 people now dead and more than 1,200 arrested, according to a police statement.

Experts have suggested that while the former leader's arrest was the trigger for civil unrest, underlying issues such as "rampant unemployment, widespread inequality and discontent with Covid-19 related restrictions are the powder keg."

A man carries a fridge on his head that was looted from the Lotsoho Mall in Katlehong township

Smoke rises from a Makro building set on fire overnight in Umhlanga, north of Durban

Looters take away few items left to grab in a vandalised mall in Vosloorus

A fire engulfs Campsdrift Park, which houses Makro and China Mall, following protests that have widened into looting in Pietermaritzburg

Religious leaders carrying South African flags walk near a looted shopping mall

A Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officer walks between burnt cars

South African Police Services (SAPS) members arrest a looter at the Gold Spot Shopping Centre in Vosloorus

Locals and family members of 15-year-old Vusi Dlamini stand next to his body after he has been allegedly shot outside a mall where looting was taking place