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South Africa’s Jacob Zuma marches with supporters opposed to his jailing

Hundreds of supporters of Jacob Zuma marched alongside the former South African president in his hometown of Nkandla on Saturday, a show of force against a court decision to jail him for 15 months for failing to appear at a corruption inquiry. The constitutional court on Tuesday gave Zuma 15 months in jail for absconding in February from the inquiry led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. Zuma has until the end of Sunday to hand himself in, after which police are obliged to arrest him. “They can give Zuma 15 months … or 100 months. He’s not going to serve even one day or one minute of that,” his son Edward Zuma told Reuters at the gathering. “They would have to kill me before they put their hands on him.” The jail sentence was seen as sign of just how far Zuma, once a revered veteran of...

UAE ratifies extradition deal with South Africa as hunt for Guptas intensifies

The United Arab Emirates has ratified a 2018 extradition treaty with South Africa, its embassy in Pretoria said on Wednesday, a move that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government hopes will lead to the return of the Gupta brothers to face corruption charges. South Africa signed the treaty with the UAE in late 2018, part of Ramaphosa’s effort to crack down on those accused of corruption and influence peddling under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. It was ratified in April, UAE’s embassy said in a statement. The Gupta brothers – Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta – are accused of using connections with Zuma to win contracts, misappropriate state assets, inappropriately influence cabinet appointments and siphon off billions of rand in state funds. The Indian-born brothers, who have repeatedly denied wrong...