South Africa

Former President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, has been cleared by the country’s electoral court to contest the upcoming election.

In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, April 9, the court upturned the decision made by South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission, SAIEC, last month, barring Zuma from contesting elections
SAIEC had barred Zuma from contesting the forthcoming elections due to his criminal record.
In 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months of imprisonment for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission.

The probe was centered on corruption allegations in government and state-owned companies during Zuma’s presidential term from 2009 to 2018.

However, in a brief court order, the electoral court said an appeal by Zuma and his party was successful, noting that the objection against his candidature had been dismissed.
“The decision of the Electoral Commission is set aside,” the court wrote.
Following the clearance, Zuma is expected to run for the presidency on behalf of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which he founded last year after leaving the African National Congress, ANC.

Four people have been killed and eight wounded in a bar in eastern South Africa after two men fired indiscriminately at customers, police said, on the same night as a bar shooting in Soweto left 15 dead.
Police were trying to verify if the attacks were linked, they said, noting their similarity.

On Saturday night in the city of Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province, two entered the bar and “fired random shots at the patrons” before fleeing, local police spokesman Nqobile Gwala said.
South Africa: 15 dead after gunmen open fire at a bar in Soweto township
“A total of 12 people were shot. Two people were declared dead at the scene and the other two died in hospital,” he said.

“Another eight people are still in hospital after they sustained injuries.”
The dead were aged between 30 and 45.
The attack occurred about 8.30 pm at a tavern in a semi-rural area 20km (12 miles) from Pietermaritzburg in the country’s east, close to a car wash and a liquor store, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.
The mayor, Mzimkhulu Thebola, said the assault was over very quickly without any robbery, conversation, or fight.

“Every week we get news of people that have just been shot at randomly,” he said.
Blood stains were seen on the ground in front of the bar.
In Soweto hours later, gunmen killed 15 people and injured eight in a shooting at a tavern at a township close to Johannesburg.

A police investigator and forensic personnel at the scene of the Soweto bar shooting

“When we arrived at the scene, 12 people were dead with gunshot wounds,” police officer Nonhlanhla Kubheka said.

Eleven people were taken to hospital, and three later succumbed to their wounds. The dead were aged 19 to 35 and included two women, provincial police chief Elias Mawela said.

There were no details regarding the assailants, he said, and forensic police were still collecting evidence.
The two deadly attacks came two weeks after the mysterious deaths of 22 people, mostly teenagers, in still unclear circumstances at a township tavern last month in the southern city of East London.