An army of volunteers, armed with brooms and united in purpose, have taken to the debris-strewn streets in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng to clean up the mess and destruction caused by days of looting.

They came out in numbers on Thursday in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg.

Thabo Tsotetsi, a resident of Ebony Park in Midrand, dressed all in black, was among the scores of people who pitched in to clean up a shopping centre in Ebony Park.

The 26-year-old, who owns a small mobile auto detailing business which polishes, washes and details cars, said: “So far things are going well on our side. The community at large is really participating in cleaning up the looted shops.”

In Alexandra, Johannesburg, soldiers patrolled while residents cleaned streets and local businesses.

Days of looting and violence in parts of Gauteng and KZN left a trail of destruction that will cost billions of rand to replace — about 200 shopping malls were damaged. 

Celebrity producer and DJ Prince Kaybee joined efforts by the community of Daveyton to clean Mayfield Square and Daveyton Mall.

“We as the community are really affected by the looting of shops, so we took it upon ourselves to help since we couldn't do much in protecting the [looted] centres because we never expected such a thing could happen in our community,” he said.