S.African ex-leader Zuma faces court hearing amid looting, killings

JOHANNESBURG, July 12 (Reuters) – South Africa’s top court began hearing a challenge by former president Jacob Zuma against a 15-month prison term on Monday as police said six people had been killed and over 200 arrested in related protests and looting since last week.

Sporadic violence and looting continued on Monday, after a weekend of unrest by pro-Zuma protesters, mainly concentrated in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Some disturbances spilled into the country’s largest city Johannesburg. read more

Zuma, 79, was sentenced 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 the virtual hearing, Zuma’s counsel asked the court to rescind his jail term, citing a rule that judgments can be reconsidered if made in the absence of the affected person or containing a patent error.

Legal experts say Zuma’s chances of success are slim.

Television channels showed footage on Monday of a fire at a mall in Pietermaritzburg, in KZN. The channel said the highway leading to the city had been closed to prevent further violence.

“The NatJOINTS (government intelligence body) has intensified deployments in all the areas in Gauteng (the province including Johannesburg) and KwaZulu-Natal affected by the violent protests, as the damage to property and looting of stores continued overnight,” the agency said in a statement.

It said the bodies of four people were found – at least two of them with gunshot wounds – in Gauteng. Two deaths had occurred in KZN, and all six were being investigated.

Zuma’s imprisonment 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 pre-1994 white minority rulers for his efforts to make all citizens equal before the law.

Zuma’s core supporters, echoing his stance, 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, hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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 the country 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. read more

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Troops called in after jailing of Zuma ignites violence and looting

South Africa’s highest court to rule on Monday whether to uphold former president’s sentence

South Africa’s army has said it is deploying troops to two provinces, including its economic hub of Johannesburg, to help crush mob violence and looting as unrest sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma entered a fourth day.

“The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has commenced with pre-deployment processes and procedures in line with a request for assistance,” the military said in a statement.

Personnel will “assist law enforcement agencies deployed in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces respectively to quell the unrest that has gripped both provinces in the last few days,” it said.

The violence raged as the constitutional court was reviewing a landmark decision to jail Zuma for contempt of court. An announcement is expected later.

The country’s top court on 29 June slapped Zuma with a 15-month term for failing to appear at an inquiry into the corruption that stained his nine years in power.

Zuma began the sentence last Thursday but is seeking to have the ruling set aside.

“What we are saying is that this court made fundamentally rescindable errors,” Zuma’s lawyer Dali Mpofu argued in an online hearing before nine of the court’s 11 judges.

Zuma had been treated unfairly and his “right to mitigation was limited,” he said.

But one of the judges, Steven Majiedt, said Zuma had been convicted “because he disobeyed the order of this court”.

Despite his reputation for graft – the use of political authority for personal gain – and scandal, the 79-year-old former anti-apartheid fighter remains popular among many poor South Africans.

The epicentre of the unrest is Zuma’s home region, the south-eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Shortly before the military’s announcement, troops were seen on the streets of its capital Pietermaritzburg and smoke billowed from the roof of a large shopping mall.

A retail shop in Durban was looted Monday morning, while in Eshowe, a town near Zuma’s Nkandla home, police fired rubber bullets to disperse crowds after a supermarket was ransacked.

In Johannesburg, an AFP photographer saw a corpse at one site. The cause of the death was not immediately known. Sections of a major highway were closed.

Police said more than 200 people had been arrested.

Some of the protests appear to have been triggered by Zuma’s detention, but they are also associated with grinding unemployment and hardship inflicted by a toughening of anti-Covid measures.

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday called on dissenters to protest peacefully.

“While there are those who may be hurt and angry at this moment, there can never be any justification for such violent, destructive and disruptive actions,” he said.

Once dubbed the “Teflon president,” Zuma started serving the jail term after handing himself in to authorities as a deadline for surrender loomed. On Friday he lost a petition at the Pietermaritzburg high court to have his case thrown out.

The court said it was not empowered to interfere with rulings set down by the constitutional court and that Zuma’s claims about his health were not “supported by any evidence”.

The anti-graft panel is probing the massive siphoning off of state assets that occurred during Zuma’s 2009-2018 presidency.

He testified just once, in July 2019, but then swiftly withdrew his cooperation, saying he was offended at being treated as an “accused” and not as a witness.

Under the terms of his sentence, Zuma could be back home before Christmas as he would be eligible for parole in less than four months.

He separately faces 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering in an arms procurement scandal dating to 1999, when he was vice-president.

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Covid Australia: ‘Graphic’ vaccine advert sparks backlash

An Australian vaccine advertisement has sparked a backlash, with many criticising its graphic depiction of a young woman suffering from Covid.

The government advert shows the woman in a hospital bed gasping for air while hooked up to a ventilator.

The text reads: “Covid-19 can affect anyone…Book your vaccination.”

But critics say the advert unfairly targets young people, considering under 40s will only be able to access the vaccines at the end of the year.

Official health advice also recommends that young people wait for a Pfizer jab instead of the available AstraZeneca jab. Australia has a shortage of Pfizer supplies.

The advert is currently only being shown in Sydney, which is in the grip of an outbreak of the Delta variant and is in its third week of lockdown.

Authorities reported 112 new cases on Monday, taking the total to over 700 cases since the strain first emerged in mid-June.

The release of the advert is part of a larger ‘Arm Yourself’ vaccination campaign which launched on Sunday.

“Completely offensive to run an ad like this when Australians in this age group are still waiting for their vaccinations,” tweeted broadcaster Hugh Riminton.

“Why are we targeting young people? Shouldn’t we be targeting the rising rate of vaccine hesitancy in over-55s?” said another Twitter user.

Others, including health professionals, called for the clip to be taken off air, calling it “insensitive”.

But the government has defended the advert.

Australia’s Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly said it was “meant to be graphic” to “push the message home” about the need to stay home, get tested and book in vaccines.

“We are only doing this because of the situation in Sydney,” he said.

On Sunday, authorities in Australia’s largest city recorded the first death from the outbreak – the nation’s first locally-contracted Covid fatality all year.

The Sydney wave has sparked widespread criticism of the federal government’s vaccine rollout. It began in February but has been held back by a lack of Pfizer vaccine supply, public complacency and confused public health messaging about AstraZeneca’s risks.

Just over 10% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

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Italy and England go to extra time at Euro 2020

The European Championship final is going to extra time with Italy and England level at 1-1.

Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci equalized in the 67th minute with a tap-in. He celebrated in front of the Italian fans by standing on top of the advertising hoardings with both his arms raised and fists clenched.

England had been leading 1-0 for most of the match after Luke Shaw scored in the second minute.

The teams will play 30 minutes of extra time. It will be split into two 15-minute halves.

The match will then go to penalty kicks if the score is still tied.

 

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