A mother was forced to throw her young child from a burning building during riots in South Africa.

The riots have been set off by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma.

The mother and child were reunited after she threw him from the building.

The violence began yesterday after Zuma began serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court on Thursday as he refused to comply with a court order that investigated allegations of corruption while he was president from 2009 to 2018.

"The criminal element has hijacked this situation," Premier David Makhura of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, said.

With more than half of South Africa's 60 million people living in poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic impacting livelihoods, the desperation has reached a boiling point.

"We understand that those unemployed have inadequate food. We understand that the situation has been made worse by the pandemic," an emotional Mr Makhura said on the state South African Broadcasting Corp.

"But this looting is undermining our businesses here (in Soweto). It is undermining our economy, our community. It is undermining everything."

Photo credits: 9NEWS