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Jacob Zuma
Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-apartheid activist, member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, and president of the African National Congress (ANC) between 2007 and 2017. Zuma was born in the rural region of Nkandla, which is now part of the KwaZulu-Natal province and the centre of Zuma's support base. He joined the ANC at the age of 17 in 1959, and spent ten years in Robben Island Prison as a political prisoner. He went into exile in 1975, and was ultimately appointed head of the ANC's intelligence department. After the ANC was unbanned in 1990, he quickly rose through the party's national leadership and became deputy secretary general in 1991, national chairperson in 1994, and deputy president in 1997. He was the deputy president of South Africa from 1999 to 2005 under President Thabo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacob Zuma Corruption Charges
Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, is currently facing criminal charges relating to alleged corruption in the 1999 Arms Deal. He was first indicted on the charges in June 2005, but attempts to prosecute him have been beset by legal challenges and political controversy. He is currently charged with two counts of corruption, one count each of racketeering and money laundering, and twelve counts of fraud, all arising from his receipt of 783 payments which the state alleges were bribes from businessman Schabir Shaik and French arms company Thales. The Arms Deal, a major defence procurement package, was signed shortly after Zuma was appointed deputy president in 1999, and both Shaik and Thales had financial interests in the underlying contracts. By 2003, Zuma was one of several South African politicians rumoured to have benefited improperly from the deal, and these rumours appeared to receive substantiation during Shaik's criminal trial. In June 2005, the court convict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
His Excellency
Excellency is an honorific style given to certain high-level officers of a sovereign state, officials of an international organization, or members of an aristocracy. Once entitled to the title "Excellency", the holder usually retains the right to that courtesy throughout their lifetime, although in some cases the title is attached to a particular office, and is held only for the duration of that office. Generally people addressed as ''Excellency'' are heads of state, heads of government, governors, ambassadors, Roman Catholic bishops and high-ranking ecclesiastics and others holding equivalent rank (e.g., heads of international organizations). Members of royal families generally have distinct addresses ( Majesty, Highness, etc.) It is sometimes misinterpreted as a title of office in itself, but in fact is an honorific that precedes various titles (such as Mr. President, and so on), both in speech and in writing. In reference to such an official, it takes the form ''His'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Star (South Africa)
''The Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Gauteng, South Africa. The paper is distributed mainly in Gauteng and other provinces such as Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West, and Free State. ''The Star'' is one of the titles of the South African Independent News & Media group (INL), owned by Sekunjalo Media Consortium whose founder and chairman is Dr. Iqbal Survé. For many years, ''The Star'' was owned by the Argus Printing & Publishing Company, controlled by the Anglo American Corporation. The Irish Independent News & Media (INM) bought and renamed the Argus in the early 1990s. Sekujalo acquired INL in 2013. Content The content published in ''The Star'' focuses on leading daily national, local and international national news and analysis. Its leader and opinion page offers a platform for thought leaders to contribute their opinions on topical news. Products ''The Star'' houses the ''Business Report'' newspaper (a widely-read financial newspaper in South Africa), as well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Left-wing Politics
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in society whom its adherents perceive as disadvantaged relative to others as well as a belief that there are unjustified inequalities that need to be reduced or abolished. Left-wing politics are also associated with popular or state control of major political and economic institutions. According to emeritus professor of economics Barry Clark, left-wing supporters "claim that human development flourishes when individuals engage in cooperative, mutually respectful relations that can thrive only when excessive differences in status, power, and wealth are eliminated." Within the left–right political spectrum, ''Left'' and '' Right'' were coined during the French Revolution, referring to the seating arrangement in the French Estates General. Thos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacob Zuma Rape Trial
South African politician Jacob Zuma – later the President of South Africa – was charged with rape on 6 December 2005. He was prosecuted in the Johannesburg High Court between March and May 2006. On 8 May, the Court dismissed the charges, agreeing with Zuma that the sex act in question had been consensual. During the trial, Zuma admitted to having unprotected sex with his accuser, whom he knew to be HIV-positive, but memorably claimed that he took a shower afterwards to reduce his risk of contracting HIV. Background To protect the identity of Zuma's accuser, Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, she was known to the public by the pseudonym Khwezi. Her father, Judson Kuzwayo, was, like Zuma, a member of the African National Congress (ANC) during the struggle against apartheid, and had spent a decade imprisoned alongside Zuma on Robben Island before his death in 1985. Zuma was accused of raping her at his home in Forest Town, Johannesburg on 2 November 2005. By then, Khwezi was a 31 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Arms Deal
The Strategic Defence Package, popularly known as the Arms Deal, was a major defence procurement programme undertaken to re-equip the South African armed forces for the post-apartheid era. It is commonly associated with the large-scale corruption that is alleged to have taken place during and after the procurement process. Some critics have said that the Arms Deal was a defining moment or turning point for the African National Congress (ANC) government, less than five years into its tenure. Following decades of sanctions and a major review of its functions and strategy, the Department of Defence sought to modernise its defence equipment and prepare to participate in a broader range of peace-keeping, defensive, and possibly offensive operations outside South Africa's borders. In 1998, Parliament and the cabinet of President Nelson Mandela, both dominated by the ANC, approved a Defence Review Report which entailed large scale procurement of defence equipment. In December 1999, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schabir Shaik Trial
The Schabir Shaik trial was an important court trial in post-apartheid South Africa. The case, tried in the Durban and Coast Local Division of the High Court before Judge Hilary Squires, proved the fraudulent and corrupt relationship between Durban-based businessman Schabir Shaik and former South African leader Jacob Zuma. Shaik's writing off of Zuma's significant personal loans in 1999 had raised suspicions about their financial activities. After Shaik's petition of appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal failed he started to serve his sentence of 15 years on 9 November 2006. After Shaik's brother, Chippy Shaik, was suspended from the Department of Defence for his involvement in a corrupt arms deal, Schabir Shaik was arrested in 2001 for the possession of secret documents, after which investigators found that he was involved in corrupt dealings with Zuma as well as fraud. He was brought to trial in October 2004, pleading not guilty. Shaik's trial was the subject of intense m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schabir Shaik
Schabir Shaik is a South African businessman from Berea, Durban, who rose to prominence due to his close association with former South African President Jacob Zuma during Zuma's time as Deputy President. On 2 June 2005, he was found guilty of corruption and fraud, which also led to Zuma's dismissal by then President Thabo Mbeki. Early life A South African of Indian origin, Shaik studied electrical engineering at the M.L. Sultan Technikon. He had a long-standing friendship with Jacob Zuma, who needed assistance with his finances after returning from political exile in Mozambique in 1990. Zuma had been elected Chairperson of the African National Congress, and Shaik assisted him financially, mostly in the form of interest-free loans with no date of repayment. On 27 February 1995, Shabir Shaik established a company known as Nkobi Holdings, using the family name of the late ANC Treasurer Thomas Nkobi, without consent and approval of the Nkobi family. Nkobi Holdings was initially w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997. A Xhosa, Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family in Mvezo, Union of South Africa. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a syste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although numerous similar definitions have been proposed by various organizations and scholars, and there is a general consensus among scholars that "individuals have been sanctioned by legal systems and imprisoned by political regimes not for their violation of codified laws but for their thoughts and ideas that have fundamentally challenged existing power relations". The status of a political prisoner is generally awarded to individuals based on declarations of non-governmental organizations like Amnesty International, on a case-by-case basis. While such status are often widely recognized by the international public opinion, they are often rejected by individual governments accused of holding political prisoners, which tend to deny any bias in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maximum Security Prison, Robben Island
Maximum Security Prison is an inactive prison at Robben Island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometers (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. It is prominent because Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid. After that, three former inmates of this prison Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe, and Jacob Zuma have gone on to become President of South Africa. It is a South African National Heritage Site as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. History Beginning in 1961, Maximum Security Prison was used by the South African government for political prisoners and convicted criminals. The maximum security prison for political prisoners closed in 1991 and the medium security prison for criminal prisoners was closed five years later in 1996. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, with a long shoreline on the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho. Its capital is Pietermaritzburg, and its largest city is Durban. It is the second-most populous province in South Africa, with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng. Two areas in KwaZulu-Natal have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. These areas are extremely scenic as well as important to the surrounding ecosystems. During the 1830s and early 1840s, the northern part of what is now KwaZulu-Natal was established as the Zulu Kingdom while the southern part was, briefly, the Boer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
