Last year on this day: Jacob Zuma surrenders to police

Thursday marks a year since former President Jacob Zuma surrendered to police.

The Constitutional Court had found him guilty of contempt for failing to appear before the Zondo Commission on state capture.

Zuma was taken into custody at the Estcourt Correctional Centre, in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), to begin serving a 15-month prison sentence.

Zuma became the first South African president to go to prison since the end of apartheid.

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The former president was forced to step down as the extent of corruption within the governing African National Congress (ANC) Party became clear.

Today, the once-heralded and widely respected liberation movement is synonymous with corruption, state capture and a failed state.

Zuma’s arrest sparked days of violent protests across KZN and parts of Gauteng, and racially motivated violence between Indians and Blacks in the province.

In the days that followed, social media was awash with messages of plans for violent looting.

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Residents were advised to put together an emergency evacuation kit with essentials should they need to leave their homes in a hurry and to have emergency contact details on hand.

Neighbourhood roadblocks were set up and civilians took up arms to tackle the unrest and defend their homes and families from rioters.

Numerous WhatsApp and Zello community groups mushroomed warning each other of impending mob attacks.

At least 337 people died in the riots and the estimated damages as a result of the violent looting exceeded a R100 million.

Zuma is currently on medical parole.

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