In pictures: Pretoria burns amid SA mayoral protests
- Published
Pictures of violent protests near South Africa's capital, Pretoria, prompted by anger at the ANC's choice of a mayoral candidate.
South Africa's capital, Pretoria, remains tense after clashes saw residents in townships around the city torching vehicles and looting.
The protests began in anger at the governing African National Congress's choice of a mayoral candidate for Tshwane, the metropolitan area which includes Pretoria.
Some protesters sang anti-apartheid struggle songs. The crowd assured journalists that they would be safe, after some had received threats while trying to cover the unrest.
Over the weekend, ex-cabinet minister Thoko Didiza, who is from KwaZulu-Natal, was chosen to stand for Tshwane's mayor in local elections in August.
Some ANC members in the city feel the current mayor Kgosientsho Ramokgopa was pushed aside in the nomination process.
Looting of township shops also spread during the protests on Tuesday.
The BBC's Nomsa Maseko took this footage of people ransacking one small grocery store.
People made away with the stock - and even fridges.
About 20 buses were reportedly torched. Zimbabwean papers say that more than 20 Zimbabweans travelling to Johannesburg were caught up in the trouble on Tuesday when their bus was stopped and they were robbed.
Looters set alight this grocery shop overnight. Foreign-owned shops are often a target in such violence - and some foreign shop owners told EyeWitness News they feared for their lives.
By Wednesday morning, many shops had been cleared out. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the violence and its ethnic undertones.
Police were escorting foreign shop owners away from some areas on Wednesday, saying they were not safe, EyeWitness news reports.
Photographs courtesy AFP, AP, Eyewitness News and Reuters