the Zuma affair continues in South Africa
Jacob Zuma, south africa’s infamous ex-president, is back in the news after somehow being granted parole. we covered the basics of his shenanigans back in issue 24, but we figured we could do a deep dive on today’s hottakes -
Where is South Africa?
in southern africa, you racist. we bet you know where south dakota is...
Who is Jacob Zuma?
finally, a good question. Zuma was south africa’s president from 2009 to 2018, when he was forced out of office by his own party, the African National Congress (ANC). Zuma has a long and storied personal history - he grew up without any schooling as the son of a single mother, joined the ANC’s militia, and was imprisoned for ten years with nelson Mandela during apartheid. he is widely seen as charismatic, charming, and a great politician, rising through the ranks of the ANC after South Africa was freed.
he also clearly has a dark side, as evidenced through his numerous run-ins with the law. he was accused of raping the daughter of a family friend and has faced literally dozens of charges of corruption since 2005, though none have really stuck. at one point, he repaid the government for millions of dollars of upgrades he made to his luxury home complex. Zuma was eventually forced from power over his relationship with the Guptas, a rich set of Indian brothers who were so corrupt they personally picked the country’s finance minister. Zuma and the Guptas were seen as so intertwined, the affair was known as “Zupta”.
the Guptas, with a loyal employee...who just like happens to be Zuma’s son
What’s been going on Recently?
huge riots broke out in late July when Zuma was finally sentenced to jail for fifteen months by south africa’s supreme court. the judges ruled him in contempt for failing to cooperate with the corruption investigation against him. widespread looting, violence, and mayhem broke out costing over 300 lives and $1 billion in damages.
the riots were widely seen to have been instigated and coordinated by Zuma and his allies in the state security apparatus. police largely refused to stop the rioting, prompting the government to send in 25,000 troops, the largest deployment since the end of apartheid. the violence ended after a couple of weeks, but the economic damage was immense, with one province’s entire supply chain essentially destroyed.
while south Africans have plenty of reasons to be upset - unemployment among young people is 75% and the country is still in the midst of a COVID outbreak - Zuma is obviously guilty of corruption. the riots were a message to the government that his supporters are still active, vocal, and powerful. it’s almost like he egged them on after losing office just to heal his fragile ego…
after the riots ended, Zuma eventually gave himself up to the police, and now...he’s been paroled, for mysterious medical reasons. it seems like the parole board did not follow their normal procedures with Zuma’s request, who is in the hospital. there are signs that the governing ANC party (which Zuma used to belong to) may have had a hand in his release, as only the opposition party seems to have a problem with this miscarriage of justice.
this whole episode is seen as a test of the rule of law in south africa, which became a democracy less than 30 years ago. whether the government can maintain rule of law while both trying Zuma and maintaining order on the streets is the billion-dollar question.
