Court Resumes Zuma’s Corruption Trial Today Amid Deadly Riots

The corruption trial is focusing on the 1999 “arms deal,” in which Zuma is accused of pocketing hundreds of thousands of US dollars in bribes from the French defense giant, Thales.

On June 29, the former president was found guilty of contempt of South Africa’s top court for disobeying a Constitutional Court order to testify before a judicial panel conducting a separate probe of corruption during his presidency.

His imprisonment a week later sparked widespread violent protests, looting and arson in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal as well as Gauteng province that has left commercial areas ransacked and at least 200 people dead.

Today, Monday, July 19, 2021 armoured vehicles and heavily armed soldiers and police were stationed outside the court amid fears the resumption of the trial would spark further violent protests, which had eased over the weekend.

It was feared that Zuma’s supporters would use this hearing today as an opportunity to show their support for the former president. The trial is resuming amid deadly riots in South Africa over his jailing for contempt but the Court, according to local media reports in South Africa, is planning to hold a virtual hearing to avoid “disruption.”

Zuma, a veteran of the struggle against white minority rule, served as South Africa’s president from 2009 to 2018 before resigning under pressure from his party, the African National Congress (ANC), amid declining public support and public anger at the corruption allegations.

The corruption trial is focusing on the 1999 “arms deal,” in which Zuma is accused of pocketing hundreds of thousands of US dollars in bribes from the French defense giant, Thales.

On June 29, the former president was found guilty of contempt of South Africa’s top court for disobeying a Constitutional Court order to testify before a judicial panel conducting a separate probe of corruption during his presidency.

His imprisonment a week later sparked widespread violent protests, looting and arson in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal as well as Gauteng province that has left commercial areas ransacked and at least 200 people dead.

Today, Monday, July 19, 2021 armoured vehicles and heavily armed soldiers and police were stationed outside the court amid fears the resumption of the trial would spark further violent protests, which had eased over the weekend.

It was feared that Zuma’s supporters would use this hearing today as an opportunity to show their support for the former president. The trial is resuming amid deadly riots in South Africa over his jailing for contempt but the Court, according to local media reports in South Africa, is planning to hold a virtual hearing to avoid “disruption.”

Zuma, a veteran of the struggle against white minority rule, served as South Africa’s president from 2009 to 2018 before resigning under pressure from his party, the African National Congress (ANC), amid declining public support and public anger at the corruption allegations.