She was speaking during a briefing by the Justice, Crime Prevention, and Security Cluster on Tuesday. 

Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have seen widespread violence and looting over the past few days.

The violence was initially sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma but has since morphed into random criminality and looting.

A total of 757 people have been arrested for looting and damaging property

In KwaZulu-Natal, 304 people were arrested while 453 were nabbed in Gauteng.

Yesterday, 2500 SANDF members were deployed to assist in quelling the riots, and all police officers who were on leave have been called back to work.

"Yes, people are in a state of panic, we are all concerned about what is happening, but whether it would be correct now to declare a state of emergency, we do not think so. A state of emergency takes all the liberties from citizens and the military takes over the country. For now, we do not think we have reached that point," said Mapisa-Nqakula.

She said the decision to deploy 2500 soldiers was based on the intelligence gathered.

"The initial focus for us when this thing happens was to guard strategic installations and key national points of government. If you go to the airport, you won't find the defence point, but at that point, I don't think we anticipated this scale of looting at malls.  But right now, people are now planning around deployment to guard the malls.”

The death toll from the riots in KwaZulu-Natal has risen to 26, and in Gauteng it is 19. KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala announced the news on Tuesday morning. Most of these deaths are said to have occurred during a stampede.

Jacaranda News