Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months for court contempt after failing to appear at a corruption inquiry earlier this year.
South African police are reportedly taking extreme measures amidst unrest in the country, including using rubber bullets on protestors.
Streets have been filled with protesters since the polarizing former South African President Jacob Zuma was put in jail. Zuma was sentenced to 15 months for court contempt after failing to appear at a corruption inquiry earlier this year.
Former President Zuma denies all wrongdoing and has appealed to the constitutional court for his sentence to be reviewed.
Criminals have taken advantage of the civil unrest by looting shopping malls and warehouses and even setting delivery trucks on fire.
Now the South African military has been deployed to some areas.
“What we are witnessing now are opportunistic acts of criminality with groups of people instigating chaos merely as a cover for looting and theft,” current South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
Unemployment for the first three months of 2021 in the region is 32.6 percent, a record high. And according to the latest published government figures from 2015, about half of the population lives below the poverty line.
Sadly, because the pandemic caused people to lose jobs, that number is estimated to be higher.
CBS News reports over 1,000 arrests have been made and at least 72 people have died.
