On Monday, South Africa’s highest court began hearing former President Jacob Zuma’s appeal against a 15-month prison sentence, while enraged supporters ransacked stores and destroyed buildings in rallies.
Zuma was sentenced for ignoring a constitutional court order to testify at a high-level corruption inquiry during his nine years in administration, which ended in 2018.
The decision to imprison him came after court proceedings that were considered as a test of post-apartheid South Africa’s willingness to uphold the rule of law, even against strong politicians.
Zuma’s lawyer requested the court to overturn his sentence at the virtual hearing, citing a clause that allows verdicts to be overturned if they were made in the absence of the affected individual or contained a clear error.
The incident came after a weekend of protests, which were mostly concentrated in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), with some spilling over into Johannesburg’s main commercial hub.
On Monday, television stations broadcast footage of a fire at a mall in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. According to the station, the city’s motorway has been closed to prevent further bloodshed.
Zuma’s core supporters, echoing his position, say he is the victim of a political witch hunt orchestrated by allies of his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa said on Sunday there was no justification for violence and that it was damaging efforts to rebuild the economy, damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zuma’s jailing marks a significant fall for an important figure in the liberation-movement-turned ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). He was once jailed by South Africa’s white minority rulers for his efforts to make all citizens equal before the law.
The corruption inquiry that Zuma has refused to cooperate with 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 after his ouster and are believed to be living in Dubai, deny wrongdoing.
Zuma also faces a corruption case relating to a $2 billion arms deal in 1999 when he was deputy president. He denies the charges in that case.
(Reuters)
