S. African police deny officers' involvement in looting during protests

The South African Police Service (SAPS) on Thursday denied that police officers took part in looting during violent protests in and around Pretoria.

This came after the Facebook page of the Daily Sun and other social media platforms published images purporting to portray SAPS members as being active participants in looting and other related forms of criminality during the recent violent riots.

The management of the SAPS noticed the images with concern, SAPS Brigadier Mashadi Selepe said.

"The SAPS strongly condemns this type of reporting and the distribution of these images as they were selectively published to tarnish the image of the SAPS and is totally misleading and untrue," Selepe said, adding that the SAPS members were "in no way involved in any act of criminality and were in fact retrieving stolen goods from looters".

Pretoria and surrounding areas have been hit by violent protests since Sunday.

The protests were sparked by the ruling African National Congress'(ANC) decision to place former cabinet minister Thoko Didiza as its candidate for Pretoria mayor to replace current mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa in the local government elections scheduled for August 3.

The protesters are unhappy with Didiza and preferred Ramokgopa as their mayor. But the ANC said it would not change its candidate.

During the protests, many foreign-owned shops were looted, houses burned and buses torched. And at least five people have been killed. Enditem