A lone resident walks through the smoke along Umgeni Road. Photo: Gallo Images/Darren Stewart
Police officers in KwaZulu-Natal remain on high alert following sporadic violent protests in the province.
Brigadier Jay Naicker told The Citizen police officers have been mobilised from across to province to all major routes to “deal with the criminal elements responsible for recent incidents of lawlessness”.
Operations are ongoing and Naikcer confirmed “a large number of people – 27 so far – have been arrested for incidents of criminality within in the province on Friday”.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday responded to the crisis in KwaZulu-Natal and called for protesters to remain calm and refrain from acts of violence
Ramaphosa commended the South African Police Force (Saps) for their efforts to quell the violence perpetrated by ‘KZN Shutdown’ protesters in the province.
The president said the impact of public violence, especially against the road freight industry, “will also be felt by the people organising and committing these crimes”.
While a spate of violent protests continues to break out across KwaZulu Natal on Saturday, spokesperson for the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Mzwanele Manyi, said the protesters were “provoked by the Constitutional Court”.
He said the foundation “condemns the violent sentence meted out to former President Jacob Zuma, it also condemns the fact that Zuma was jailed without a fair trial”.
Manyi said Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo failed to “use remedies applicable to him and the State Capture Commission”, and instead “ran to the Constitutional Court”.
The National Liquor Traders Council (NTLC) have penned a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa appealing for a partial lifting of the ban on alcohol sales.
On 27 June, Ramaphosa announced that the country would be placed on adjusted alert level 4 effective for 14 days until Sunday, 11 July.
He said that alcohol sales on-site or off-site consumption were completely prohibited for the period amid the sharp rise of Covid-19 infections driven by the new Delta variant.
With expectations that Level 4 lockdown will be extended, the alcohol industry has pleaded with government to end the current ban on alcohol sales.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille’s Facebook post has not been received well by some people.
In the post, Zille seemed to express her sympathy for the former president Jacob Zuma – who is currently serving his prison sentence at the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal – while reflecting on his political career, among other things.
Some people on social media reacted to Zille’s post with somewhat of an understanding, while others reacted to the other parts of the post with outrage.
With perjury-accused Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane considering to approach the Constitutional Court with a rescission application following another court, a legal expert believes the matter will be dismissed if she proceeds with it.
Mkhwebane’s potential move will be similar to former president Jacob Zuma, who in a last-ditch effort to avoid time behind bars, approached the Constitutional Court with the same application.
The Zondo Commission has filed papers at the Constitutional Court asking it to dismiss, with costs, former president Jacob Zuma’s rescission application.
The apex court is expected to hear Zuma’s application on Monday.
The former president was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment after he defied its ruling that he appear before the Zondo Commission and answer questions that did not implicate him in specific crimes.
The frustration of red cards ruining thrilling rugby matches was once again to the fore as the British and Irish Lions hammered the Sharks 71-31 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night, the match turning into a one-sided affair after Sharks scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse was sent off for a moment of madness.
The Sharks had produced a ferocious response to their drubbing in midweek in their first meeting with the Lions, and at 26-26 after a dazzling first half, the stage was set for a marvellous second half.
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