JOHANNESBURG – At least 32 victims of violence in South Africa, which exploded after the imprisonment of the former president Jacob Zuma, sentenced by the Supreme Court to 15 months in prison for corruption.
South Africa, former president Zuma constitutes himself: he must serve 15 months in prison
by Francesco Malgaroli
The authorities of the province of Kwazulu-Natal, in the East, have updated the death toll from clashes and looting to 26, in addition to the 6 recorded in Johannesburg. “We have rarely seen” such incidents, the president said yesterday Cyril Ramaphosa, in a speech to the nation broadcast on TV. The army was called in to help law enforcement contain the protests, which have been going on for five days. “This is the action of criminals and opportunists,” a police spokesman explained.
The opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) criticized the government’s decision to deploy the army. In a statement published following the president’s speech, the EFF argued that their deployment cannot be a solution to civil unrest and asked the authorities to engage with “political intervention”.
Opponents added that through the party’s lawyers they will write a letter to Ramaphosa to seek “the legal basis for the deployment of the soldiers”, threatening to take “appropriate action” if the president does not respond to the letter within 12 hours of receiving it.
South Africa, slogans of the fight against apartheid, Zulu signs and populism: this is how Zuma tries to win against the judges
by Francesco Malgaroli
The protests have been going on for 5 days, after the KwaZulu-Natal High Court rejected the request to suspend the arrest of Zuma, who will remain in Estcourt prison to serve a sentence for insulting the judges. They escalated further over the weekend with the killing of one person and the arrest of at least 219 protesters, while around 300 people were missing in an attempt to block the M2 motorway in a Johannesburg suburb.
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