DURBAN, August 3 (ANA) – The recent unrest that took place across the KwaZulu-Natal province and parts of Gauteng, and that resulted in numerous deaths, theft and property destruction have been tallied up.

This, after a media briefing at the Inanda police station in Durban on Tuesday which featured the minister of police General Bheki Cele and premier of KZN Sihle Zikalala, as well as several surveys conducted by private and public organisations.

Two-hundred and fifty-one (251) people in KZN died as a result of the unrest, with 110 from the eThekwini district, 36 from the Phoenix area, 20 from the uMgungundlovu district, and all which were of black African and Indian descent.

Thirty (30) people who were killed in Phoenix, were shot. Two were burnt, one stabbed and another run over by a vehicle. Two were assaulted.

Fifty-two (52) cases of attempted murder, nine cases of common assault and 16 cases of Assault GBH are being investigated.

Thirty-one (31) detectives have been deployed to investigate and have arrested 22 suspects.

One-hundred and twelve (112) illegal firearms have been seized in the Phoenix area.

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Another 152 firearms from four private security companies have also been seized by investigators.

Damage to property are estimated to be around R126 billion (around US$8.7 billion), according to an earlier African News Agency report.

One survey, based on results from 1,070 respondents from informal, micro, small and large businesses, conducted by NGO BeyondCOVID also found that SMMEs stand to lose around R3.4 billion in revenue per month as a result of the unrest.

Sixty-two percent of small businesses affected do not have insurance.

Seven percent of impacted businesses from KZN and Gauteng have closed for good, 44 percent have closed temporarily and six percent returned to business as usual.

More than 40,000 businesses were affected, according to the Durban Chamber of Commerce.

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More than R15 billion in damages to property and equipment has been recorded, while stock loss is estimated to be more than R1.5 billion in eThekwini.

With a population of just over three million, it has an estimated negative impact of more than R25 billion to its GDP.

More than 150,000 jobs are at risk while more than 1.5 million people have been left without an income.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay