- Joined
- Jan 27, 2020
Looks like the MSM has caught up.
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South Africa deploys troops to tackle unrest as Jacob Zuma supporters riot over ex-president's jailing
1 hours ago
Reuters: Sumaya Hisham
[ original | archive ]
Days of riots in South Africa have left six people dead and forced the government to deploy soldiers to quell violence in the wake of the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.
Zuma, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for failing to attend an inquiry into his presidency, handed himself over to police last week.
Protests by his supporters have escalated into looting and arson, mainly in Zuma's home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and in Gauteng, where Johannesburg is located.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said nearly 500 people had been arrested.
"What we are witnessing now are opportunistic acts of criminality, with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and theft," he said.
"We will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute those who perpetrate these actions and will ensure that they face the full might of our law."
Mr Ramaphosa warned that the looting of shopping centres and pharmacies could lead to food and medicine shortages in the coming weeks, as well as disruption to the coronavirus vaccination drive.
Some COVID vaccination sites and clinics in Gauteng and KZN were closed due to safety concerns, the Gauteng provincial government and an independent pharmacy association said, further delaying a sluggish immunisation campaign.
A statement from the military said "pre-deployment processes had started" following a request for assistance from a government intelligence body, but a Reuters cameraman in Pietermaritzburg, a town in KZN, saw armed soldiers already in the streets.
Zuma, 79, was sentenced late last month for defying a constitutional court order to give evidence at an inquiry investigating high-level corruption during his nine years in office until 2018.
The decision to jail him resulted from legal proceedings seen as a test of post-apartheid South Africa's ability to enforce the rule of law, including against powerful politicians.
In a virtual hearing on Monday, Zuma's counsel asked the constitutional court to rescind his jail term, citing a rule that judgment can be reconsidered if made in the absence of the affected person or containing a patent error.
But legal experts say Zuma's chances of success are slim.
Liquor stores were looted. The sale of alcohol is currently banned, under COVID-19 restrictions designed to ease pressure on hospitals.
As of Monday morning, the bodies of four people had been found in Gauteng, at least two with gunshot wounds, authorities said.
Two people died in KZN, and all six deaths are being investigated.
The governing African National Congress (ANC) said on Monday that the poor would bear the brunt of the destruction, as critical public services had been disrupted and several small businesses destroyed.
The movement of freight out of Durban port's container terminal was disrupted, while a logistics executive who asked not to be named said he had taken all 300 of his trucks transporting metals like copper and cobalt off the roads.
The country's Minerals Council said some shipments out of the Richards Bay port had been delayed.
Zuma's imprisonment marks a significant fall for a leading figure in the ANC.
Before the end of apartheid, he was jailed by South Africa's white rulers for his efforts to make all citizens equal before the law.
But for many, his reputation is now tarnished after a string of sleaze and corruption scandals.
The corruption inquiry with which Zuma has refused to cooperate is examining allegations that he allowed three Indian-born businessmen, Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta, to plunder state resources and peddle influence over government policy.
He and the Gupta brothers, who fled the country after his downfall, deny wrongdoing.
Zuma also faces a corruption case relating to a multi-billion-dollar arms deal in 1999 when he was deputy president. He denies the charges in that case.
Reuters/ABC
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South Africa deploys troops to tackle unrest as Jacob Zuma supporters riot over ex-president's jailing
1 hours ago
Reuters: Sumaya Hisham
[ original | archive ]
Days of riots in South Africa have left six people dead and forced the government to deploy soldiers to quell violence in the wake of the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.
Zuma, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for failing to attend an inquiry into his presidency, handed himself over to police last week.
Protests by his supporters have escalated into looting and arson, mainly in Zuma's home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and in Gauteng, where Johannesburg is located.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said nearly 500 people had been arrested.
"What we are witnessing now are opportunistic acts of criminality, with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and theft," he said.
"We will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute those who perpetrate these actions and will ensure that they face the full might of our law."
Mr Ramaphosa warned that the looting of shopping centres and pharmacies could lead to food and medicine shortages in the coming weeks, as well as disruption to the coronavirus vaccination drive.
Some COVID vaccination sites and clinics in Gauteng and KZN were closed due to safety concerns, the Gauteng provincial government and an independent pharmacy association said, further delaying a sluggish immunisation campaign.
A statement from the military said "pre-deployment processes had started" following a request for assistance from a government intelligence body, but a Reuters cameraman in Pietermaritzburg, a town in KZN, saw armed soldiers already in the streets.
Zuma, 79, was sentenced late last month for defying a constitutional court order to give evidence at an inquiry investigating high-level corruption during his nine years in office until 2018.
The decision to jail him resulted from legal proceedings seen as a test of post-apartheid South Africa's ability to enforce the rule of law, including against powerful politicians.
In a virtual hearing on Monday, Zuma's counsel asked the constitutional court to rescind his jail term, citing a rule that judgment can be reconsidered if made in the absence of the affected person or containing a patent error.
But legal experts say Zuma's chances of success are slim.
Police fire rubber bullets as mobs ransack shops
At the Jabulani Mall in Soweto, looters carrying armfuls of stolen goods walked past TV cameras.Liquor stores were looted. The sale of alcohol is currently banned, under COVID-19 restrictions designed to ease pressure on hospitals.
As of Monday morning, the bodies of four people had been found in Gauteng, at least two with gunshot wounds, authorities said.
Two people died in KZN, and all six deaths are being investigated.
The governing African National Congress (ANC) said on Monday that the poor would bear the brunt of the destruction, as critical public services had been disrupted and several small businesses destroyed.
The movement of freight out of Durban port's container terminal was disrupted, while a logistics executive who asked not to be named said he had taken all 300 of his trucks transporting metals like copper and cobalt off the roads.
The country's Minerals Council said some shipments out of the Richards Bay port had been delayed.
Zuma's imprisonment marks a significant fall for a leading figure in the ANC.
Before the end of apartheid, he was jailed by South Africa's white rulers for his efforts to make all citizens equal before the law.
But for many, his reputation is now tarnished after a string of sleaze and corruption scandals.
The corruption inquiry with which Zuma has refused to cooperate is examining allegations that he allowed three Indian-born businessmen, Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta, to plunder state resources and peddle influence over government policy.
He and the Gupta brothers, who fled the country after his downfall, deny wrongdoing.
Zuma also faces a corruption case relating to a multi-billion-dollar arms deal in 1999 when he was deputy president. He denies the charges in that case.
Reuters/ABC
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get hurt by ebil nazi whites and nonwhite white supremacists, the (((media))) and various (((governments))) and (((NGOs))) will all cry bloody murder about neo-apartheid nazi militias murdering peaceful black protestors and Grandpa Joe may even offer a few drones to help answer the Boer question.
