Motorists and shoppers were seen queuing at petrol stations and grocery stores, flocking to the few places spared by the unrest – and still open for business.

News24 is tracking active looting sites spread across the city and the suburbs that surround it. At Makro in Springfield Park, a crowd numbering in the thousands has overwhelmed the police.

Long queues were seen at Spar outlets in Morningside, La Lucia, Umgeni Park, Durban North and Overport, with groceries rationed to prevent panic buying. At Morningside's Avondale Spar, a Berea resident who asked not to be photographed or named said he queued from 06:00 to 11:00 to get staples for his family.

He said: "I was allowed 20 items. I got potatoes, butternut, milk, eggs and stuff like that. It was worth the wait. I don't know when the shops will open again."

Fellow resident Cogi Simpson said: "I haven't got a slice of bread at home. I must wait. Normally I take it for granted that I can walk across the road to the Spar. I am so grateful to the people who stood outside last night looking after us. There were gunshots but the residents were patrolling."

Petrol stations – also targeted by rioters – have closed en masse in the city, sparking fears of a fuel shortage. Tankers transporting fuel have been pulled from the roads amid the violence.

Sbonelo Mbatha, co-founder of PetroCONNECT and a former chairperson of the Fuel Retailers' Association, said all fuel supply in the province has been halted.

"I never thought I would see anything like this. All fuel supply in KZN has been halted because it is not safe. What you are going to see in KZN is what you saw in Zimbabwe a few years ago," he said, adding: "People are going to get stuck on the road. Very few service stations operating, and unless we can get back to normality soon it is going to be chaos."

"The ripple effect is huge. The entire economy comes to a standstill. I don't even know how to describe it. Imagine no money in ATMs, no bread. You need trucks to transport food and medicine.

In Gauteng, the streets of Alexandra in Johannesburg were covered with clouds of teargas smoke and the sound of rubber bullets on Wednesday morning as the unrest in the township spilled into the area. 

Scores of residents swarmed into the Pan Africa Mall and the surrounding local supermarkets, looking for basic goods. 

The township's main shopping district was unrecognisable, as residents had ransacked the area.

People continued to scrounge for what was left in the shopping district - including rice, oil, maize-meal and the essential basic food items.

The Pan African Mall was opened by then-president Jacob Zuma, with much fanfare, in 2009.

Zuma said at the time that it was about time that townships had access to the basic services "that are taken for granted in historically white areas". 

He added that the mall would serve as a catalyst for future growth and development, and create employment opportunities. There were loud cheers and screams from the crowd as Zuma officially declared the mall open, calling this event "a beautiful thing".

Police, who were outnumbered by the number of looters, continued to monitor the situation. 

News24