Unlike his predecessors, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma had a presidency coloured by a messy personal life and corruption charges.
South Africa recently committed to an undertaking of holding political leaders accountable and earlier this year, in May, the country made efforts to prosecute its ex-president, Jacob Zuma, on charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering filed by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) over a decade ago. Zuma’s alleged crimes include 18 charges under a $2 billion arms deal in the late 1990s and allegations of Zuma receiving $34,000 annually from Thales, a French arms company, to protect them from investigation. On June 29th, the Constitutional Court imposed the sentence and Zuma pleaded not guilty on all charges while also arguing that his ill health and age guaranteed his death if prosecuted. Defying a court order to present evidence against the inquiry, Zuma evaded a trial and the court instated a 15-month jail term due to contempt, resulting in widespread protests, violence and chaos across the nation in July and August. Zuma served two months of the jail term before being released on medical parole in September. His trial was also postponed to October 26. He has, in the meantime, been receiving medical treatment at the hospital until his trial. A look back into Zuma’s and South Africa’s political history may give further clarity into the state of affairs in South Africa, of the past months...
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