South Africa News

Former President Jacob Zuma to return to court next week

DA MP Kobus Marais says security forces should be on standby should there be any threat of insurrection when former president Jacob Zuma returns to court next week. The opposition party held a briefing yesterday on their expectations for the parliamentary inquiry into the riots that took place in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng recently. Zuma’s fraud and corruption case at the Pietermaritzburg High Court has been postponed to Tuesday, August 10.

Shortly after Zuma’s arrest, days of deadly and violent looting broke out in KZN and spread to Gauteng. Police Minister Bheki Cele and State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo were criticised for their failure to respond to the unrest speedily.
Now calls are mounting for Cele and Dlodlo to be brought to book in a parliamentary inquiry as the two had contradictory versions as to why their departments failed to respond effectively. The SANDF was deployed to both provinces to assist the police. Owing to procedural issues, the inquiry could not start last week as intended.

In Monday’s virtual briefing, the opposition party’s shadow minister of state security, Dianne Kohler Barnard, said any opportunity for a cover-up, or even the perception of a cover-up, must be removed entirely. She called for complete transparency with the setting up of the ad hoc committee.

In other news – Update: Here is what murdered Rhythm City actor, Dumisani Masilela’s mom wants

Those who showed no mercy to my son, taking his life in a cold-blooded manner, causing a young bride to be a widow, that they shall pay the price for their barbaric act.

Dumisani Masilela

Those were the words of Sabata Masilela, who testified in aggravation of sentence against the five men who murdered her son, Rhythm City actor, Dumisani Masilela, in 2017. Learn more

Source: IOL