Jacob Zuma - The African Mirror

Sep

2021

Diagnoses of doom mask denial about real problems facing South Africa

TO understand South Africa today, we need to recognise that people can focus endlessly on a country’s problems but still live in a state of denial. STEVEN FRIEDMAN, Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg Hand-wringing about problems which are said to spell the doom of South Africa’s negotiated democracy is a well-established custom. It began only months after the first election in which all adults could vote in 1994. It has become louder over the past decade and dominates the national debate, which is the preserve of the minority who enjoy access to media. Right now, violence in the…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Fire caused environmental damage

NEWS

SOUTH African authorities have revealed that around 1,600 chemicals were stored at a warehouse of India's UPL Ltd when it was razed during violent looting last week, causing potentially harmful air emissions and a greenish-tinged effluent to seep into a protected lagoon. The warehouse was one of hundreds of businesses attacked and looted in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng provinces in some of the worst violence in the post-apartheid era, sparked by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma on July 7 for contempt of court. First noticed in the early hours of July 13, the fire was only completely doused…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Zuma back in jail after brother’s funeral

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER FORMER President Jacob Zuma, whose jailing this month led to South Africa's worst outbreak of violence in years, is back behind bars after he spent a few hours back at his home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal to attend the funeral of his younger brother. Zuma, who left prison in the morning, accompanied by prison guards, was back in prison by the afternoon, the government said. Zuma, wearing a dark suit and white shirt, was flanked by family members as he walked from his homestead to his brother's neighbouring property in Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal province, a Reuters journalist said.…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Death toll in South Africa riots rises to 337

NEWS

THE death toll from recent riots in South Africa has risen to 337, with 258 people killed in KwaZulu-Natal and 79 in Gauteng, the two provinces where the violence was concentrated. The new figures were announced by Khumbuzo Ntshaveni, the acting Minister in the Presidency, at a media briefing. The death toll was revised up from the 276 that was announced on Wednesday. The unrest started as protests over former president Jacob Zuma's jailing two weeks ago in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. But it quickly escalated into arson and looting and spread to Gauteng province where the biggest city…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

SA court grants delay in Zuma’s trial

NEWS

A South African court has granted former President Jacob Zuma's request for a delay in his arms deal corruption trial, and adjourned proceedings for three weeks. Zuma this month started a 15-month sentence for contempt of court, a ruling that triggered some of the worst unrest of the post-apartheid era. He is also accused of receiving kickbacks over a $2 billion arms deal from the 1990s. He pleaded not guilty in May to charges including corruption, fraud and money laundering. He has evaded prosecution for more than a decade, and portrayed himself as the victim of a politically motivated witch-hunt.…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Court grants Zuma postponement

NEWS

ALEXANDER WINNING and WENDELL ROELF A South African court today adjourned former president Jacob Zuma's arms deal corruption trial to August 10, granting the ex-president the postponement he had applied for so that he can appear in person rather than virtually. Zuma is currently in prison after earlier this month starting a 15-month sentence for contempt of court. On August 10, the court is expected to adjudicate on Zuma's application, raised in a special plea, that leading prosecutor Advocate Billy Downer should recuse himself from the case. The state has opposed the application. Judge Piet Koen has also ordered that…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

SA probes coastal chemical spill in Durban

NEWS

SIYABONGA SISHI and ROGAN WARD SOUTH African authorities in the port city of Durban said on Saturday they were investigating a coastal chemical spill that may have been caused by a warehouse fire during unrest this week. Other possible sources are also being investigated as the cause of the spill, which is affecting marine and bird life, the eThekwini municipality said late on Friday, urging local residents not to use beaches in the area. "Extensive environmental impacts are being reported at uMhlanga and uMdhloti lagoons and beaches in the vicinity, that have killed numerous species of marine and bird life,"…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Why have South Africans been on a looting rampage? Research offers insights

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE looting of businesses, shopping centres and warehouses in South Africa over the past week, particularly in the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, has taken place at an unprecedented scale. It has affected both poor and middle-class areas. Private as well as government property has been damaged and destroyed. People have been injured and lives have been lost. GUY LAMB, Criminologist / Lecturer, Stellenbosch University A variety of narratives have emerged in an effort to explain the looting frenzy. Some have accused die-hard supporters of former president Jacob Zuma of fuelling the unrest. Others have intimated that the looting is a…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Chaos in South Africa points to failures in the project to build a democracy

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE spate of violence that’s engulfed South Africa shows that not all citizens have internalised constitutional democracy and the rule of law as the organising principle of the post-apartheid society. MASHUPYE HERBERT MASERUMULE, Professor of Public Affairs, Tshwane University of Technology Various interventions to institutionalise democracy were more focused on policy interventions and institution-building to safeguard it, but not on ensuring that it was embraced by the entirety of society, appreciating it as the basis of its evolution. The violence started in KwaZulu-Natal following the imprisonment of the former president Jacob Zuma to serve a 15-month sentence for contempt of…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

The cost of looting in SA: R7 to R10-billion, counting…

BUSINESS

CLAIMS for damage and theft from businesses affected by civil unrest in South Africa are likely to be between R7- billion rand and R10-billion rand, the head of the only insurer covering political violence in the country told Reuters. Days of riots and looting have left more than 70 people dead, hurt thousands of businesses and damaged major infrastructure in some of the worst civil unrest in decades. Triggered by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma last week after he failed to appear at a corruption inquiry, it has widened into an outpouring of anger over poverty and inequality. Sasria,…