Over 200 people have been killed in South Africa after violence and looting erupted over former president Jacob Zuma’s 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court. This series of violence and unrest is turning out to be the worst of its kind in post-Apartheid South Africa.
As per reports, the riots initially started as protests against the indictment of the former South African President Jacob Zuma as he was leveled with charges of large-scale corruption during his tenure as the President. Zuma was ordered to surrender but in his trademark style, he dodged arrest for 8 days. This proved to be enough time for his cronies to mobilize his supporters, and use his demi-God status among the poor and downtrodden section of the South African people to flare up unrest. Once the protest got out of control, the situation has gone from bad to worse.
During the investigation, the Indian community was being targeted because of the nexus between the nefarious Gupta Brothers and former President Zuma. The Gupta brothers are Indian businessmen who migrated to South Africa in 1993 and bribed their way into major government contracts. They collaborated with Zuma and embezzled large sums of money, which inspired critics to refer to them as “Zupta”. Interestingly, they were one of the key reasons which led to the expose of Zuma’s corruption. They are now hated by a large chunk of the South African population for very different reasons.