Essay: Prosecuting a president is divisive and sometimes destabilising – here’s why many countries do it anyway
US political scientists VICTOR MENALDO, JAMES D LONG and MORGAN WACK examine – in an article first published on The Conversation – look at what history shows when a country prosecutes current or former top officials…
South Africa failed to foresee, disrupt deadly unrest, report says
Johannesburg, South AfricaReuters South Africa’s police and intelligence services failed to anticipate and disrupt days of arson and looting last year in which more than 300 people died, a report into the unrest commissioned by the President and released on Monday found. The violence was sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for […]
South African inquiry points to systemic corruption during Zuma era
Johannesburg, South AfricaReuters A South African corruption inquiry pointed to systemic graft during former President Jacob Zuma’s tenure in the first part of its report published on Tuesday, after more than three years of investigations involving more than 300 witnesses. The inquiry chaired by senior judge Raymond Zondo was established in 2018 to examine allegations […]
South Africa violence, looting ebbs but death toll up to 117
Johannesburg, South AfricaReuters South Africans counted the cost on Thursday of arson and looting that has destroyed hundreds of businesses and killed at least 117 people, as the spasm of violence began to ebb and the government doubled its troop deployment to 10,000. Pockets of unrest remained, notably in the port city of Durban, where […]
South African Government plans troop surge to quell unrest – reports
Durban, South AfricaReuters South Africa plans to deploy up to 25,000 soldiers in two provinces where security forces are struggling to quell days of looting, arson and violence, its defence minister told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, according to local news channel eNCA. A military surge of that size would increase tenfold the number of […]
Worst violence in years spreads in South Africa as grievances boil; churches appeal for it to stop
Johannesburg, South AfricaReuters Crowds clashed with police and ransacked or burned shopping malls in South Africa on Tuesday, with dozens reported killed as grievances unleashed by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma boiled over into the worst violence in years. Protests that followed Zuma’s arrest last week have widened into looting and an outpouring […]
Former South African leader Zuma sentenced to 15 months in jail
Johannesburg, South AfricaReuters South Africa’s highest court sentenced former President Jacob Zuma to 15 months in jail on Tuesday for failing to appear at a corruption inquiry, and gave him five days to appear before police. Zuma failed to appear at the inquiry led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in February, and the inquiry’s […]
South African Catholic bishops welcome resignation of former President Jacob Zuma
Catholic bishops in South Africa have welcomed former President Jacob Zuma’s resignation last week, saying it was “long overdue”. In a statement issued last week, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said it had been “generally perceived” that the Zuma presidency has “degraded standards of morality and honour in our public life, and has fostered corruption […]