Six people were killed in protests in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, and troops were subsequently deployed.

The South African military said it is deploying soldiers in two provinces, including Johannesburg, its economic center, to help police respond to robberies and arson attacks on businesses.

The move comes at a time when the country’s Supreme Court began hearing the 15-month imprisonment challenged by former President Jacob Zuma (Jacob Zuma) on Monday.

The police said that since last week, 6 people have been killed in related protests and robberies, and more than 200 people have been arrested.

“The South African Defence Force has initiated pre-deployment procedures and procedures in accordance with the requests for assistance received… to assist the law enforcement agencies deployed in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, respectively, to quell the unrest that has swept these two provinces. God,” the South African military said in a statement on Monday.

Zuma, 79, was sentenced for violating a Constitutional Court order that provided evidence in an investigation into high-level corruption during his nine years in office until 2018.

The decision to imprison him stemmed from legal proceedings and was seen as a test of South Africa’s ability to enforce the rule of law after apartheid, including confronting powerful politicians.

At the virtual hearing, Zuma’s lawyer asked the court to revoke his imprisonment period, on the grounds that the judgment can be reconsidered if the affected person is absent or contains a patent error.

Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller reported from Johannesburg that he said that legal experts believe that the court’s chances of setting aside previous rulings are small.

“The president’s lawyers said he did not choose not to appear in the Constitutional Court. They said his poor health caused this. They hope the court will reverse the previous judgment,” Miller said.

Violence and robbery

After a weekend of riots by pro-Zuma protesters, there were still sporadic violence and robberies on Monday, mainly in his hometown of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

Some riots spread to Johannesburg, the country’s largest city.

Shortly before the military announced the news, the military was seen on the streets of its capital, Pietermaritzburg, and smoke billowed from the roof of a large shopping mall.

On Monday morning, a retail store in Durban was looted and police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd after a supermarket was ransacked in Eshowe, a small town near Zumancandela’s home.

In Johannesburg, Gauteng, an AFP photographer saw a body at a location. The cause of death is unclear. Part of a major highway was closed.

Some protests seem to have been triggered by Zuma’s detention, but they are also related to the severe unemployment and difficulties caused by the strengthening of anti-coronavirus measures.