This includes 10 people killed in a stampede during looting on Monday night at a shopping center in Soweto.
The military has now been deployed to help the police overstretched since the unrest began last week.
South African police said in a statement that they had identified 12 people suspected of provoking the riots and that a total of 1,234 people had been arrested.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called the unrest one of the worst violence witnessed in South Africa since the 1990s before the end of apartheid with fires set, highways blocked and businesses and warehouses looted in major cities and small towns in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces.
Ministers have warned that if looting continues, there is risk areas could run out of basic food supplies soon but have ruled out declaring a state of emergency.
More than 200 shopping malls had been looted by Monday afternoon according to the chief executive officer of Business Leadership South Africa, Busisiwe Mavuso.
In KwaZulu-Natal where livestock has also been stolen, the unrest continues with ambulances coming under attack by rioters in some areas.