johannesburg rioting triggered by the imprisonment of former south african president jacob zuma escalated monday as shopping malls in johannesburg were looted major roads were blocked by burning tires and the police and military struggled to contain the violencepresident cyril ramaphosa in a somber address broadcast to the nation monday night vowed that the police and army would restore order and he appealed to all south africans to work together for peacethe unrest started last week in kwazulunatal province after zuma was imprisoned for contempt of court what began as fairly smallscale blocking of roads in zumas home area intensified and spread to gauteng south africas most populous province including johannesburg the countrys largest citythe south african national defence force has been deployed to help the policeat least 10 people have been killed and more than 490 arrested in acts of public violence rarely seen in the history of our democracy ramaphosa saidwithout once mentioning zuma ramaphosa said that the violence may indeed have its roots in the pronouncements and activities of individuals with a political purpose and in expressions of frustration and anger however what we are witnessing now are opportunistic acts of criminality with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and thefthe said the root cause of the rioting is south africas high rate of poverty and unemploymentthis moment has thrown into stark relief what we already knew that the level of unemployment poverty and inequality in our society is unsustainable ramaphosa said we cannot expect a lasting and durable peace if we do not create jobs and build a more just and equitable society in which all south africans can participate freely and equallyhe urged all south africans to refrain from violencetogether we will defeat those who seek to destabilize our country he said we will stand as one people united against violence unanimous in our commitment to peace and to the rule of lawearlier monday the looting of retail centers broke out in several of the poorer areas of johannesburg including benmore jeppestown vosloorus and soweto where the jabulani and dobsonville malls were hitretail stores in alexandra east of johannesburg were also affected and journalists covering the riots for the public south african broadcasting corporation and news channel newzroom afrika were robbed of their equipmentseveral malls car dealerships and retail centers in more affluent areas of johannesburg including rosebank and kempton park in eastern johannesburg closed early even though they were not directly threatenedin kwazulunatal people took appliances including microwave ovens television sets and clothing from stores in the mariannhill and umlazi areasthe violence began last week when zuma began serving a 15month sentence for contempt of court he defied a court order to testify before a statebacked inquiry probing allegations of corruption during his term as president from 2009 to 2018the constitutional court the countrys highest court began hearing zumas appeal on mondaypolice were investigating the deaths four in gauteng and two in kwazulunatal said police colonel brenda