JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s top court on Friday ruled that Parliament failed to hold President Jacob Zuma to account in a scandal over multi-million-dollar upgrades to his private home, in a decision that fueled opposition calls for the president to be impeached.
The Constitutional Court’s ruling followed its conclusion last year that Zuma violated the constitution when he benefited inappropriately from state funding for his Nkandla home. It was one of a series of presidential scandals that have tarnished the reputation of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), the main anti-apartheid movement that has led South Africa since the first all-race elections in 1994.
Zuma has survived opposition efforts to oust him in votes of no confidence in Parliament, where the ANC party has a majority. Frustrated by setbacks in the National Assembly, the opposition went to court as part of their campaign to impeach Zuma, who has lost support among ruling party loyalists.
Zuma was replaced as party leader this month by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, a critic of the corruption that has undermined South Africa’s economy.
“We conclude that the assembly did not hold the president to account,” said Chris Jafta, a Constitutional Court judge who read out the ruling.
He called for Parliament to institute rules that would provide for a president’s removal. Parliament said in a statement that it would comply with the instruction.
The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s main opposition party, said its motion to impeach Zuma should be debated in Parliament “as soon as reasonably possible.”
The court ruling cited a constitutional provision that says Parliament “may remove” a president from office by a two-thirds majority for a “serious violation” of the law, as well as a separate requirement that constitutional obligations must be “performed diligently and without delay.”
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng disagreed with the majority ruling, describing it as judicial overreach.
The ruling party said it will study the ruling and discuss it at a high-level meeting on Jan. 10.
South African president suffers another legal setback
South African president suffers another legal setback
Germany calls Trump’s vow to take Panama Canal ‘unacceptable’
- ‘Any threat against a NATO member or other states is of course completely unacceptable’
- ‘It’s not about how President Trump says something... but we should look at why he says something’
Baerbock was asked in an interview about Trump’s comments Monday on the waterway and on his desire to control Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
“Any threat against a NATO member or other states is of course completely unacceptable,” Baerbock told German broadcaster RBB.
Baerbock however said that Germany needed to “play it smart,” when responding to the president’s statements.
“It’s not about how President Trump says something... but we should look at why he says something,” Baerbock said.
The focus should be on “what interests are behind (Trump’s statements) ... and then standing up for our own interests,” she said.
In the case of the Panama Canal, the message was about China “investing massively in ports and other important infrastructure around the world,” Baerbock said.
In his inaugural address on Monday, Trump complained that China was effectively “operating” the key trading route, which the United States transferred to Panamanian control in 1999.
“We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we’re taking it back,” Trump said.
It was not the first time that Trump has expressed his intention to reestablish US control over the canal, with the president repeatedly refusing to rule out using military means.
Germany has no illusions about Trump as he begins his second term in office, Baerbock said.
“The USA is one of our most important allies. We want to and will continue to work closely together,” she said.
“But we have positioned ourselves more intensively and even more strongly strategically.”
Xi, Putin hold video call: Chinese state media
- State broadcaster did not immediately give details of what was discussed during the call
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday held a video call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Beijing’s state media reported.
Xi and Putin “held a video meeting at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the afternoon of January 21,” state broadcaster CCTV said.
The broadcaster did not immediately give details of what was discussed during the call.
China has sought to depict itself as a neutral party since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But it remains a close political and economic partner of Moscow and has never condemned the war, leading some NATO members to brand Beijing an “enabler” of the conflict.
Both sides have made much of Xi and Putin’s supposedly strong personal bond, with Xi calling the Russian leader his “best friend” and Putin lauding his “reliable partner.”
In a New Year’s message to Putin last month, Xi vowed to promote “world peace and development,” according to a contemporary CCTV report.
“In the face of rapidly evolving changes not seen in a century and the turbulent international situation, China and Russia have consistently moved forward hand-in-hand along the correct path of non-alignment, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party,” the broadcaster reported Xi as saying.
Indian forces kill 14 Maoist rebels, including top commander
- New Delhi has stepped up efforts to end the decades-long conflict
- Tuesday’s clashes follow the killing of 12 Maoists on January 16
RAIPUR, India: Indian security forces shot dead at least 14 Maoist rebels, including a top commander, on Tuesday in what the interior minister said was one of the heaviest bouts of recent fighting.
The interior ministry said the commander killed was a leader known as Jairam or Chalpati, who had a $115,000 bounty on his head.
New Delhi has stepped up efforts to end the decades-long conflict. Tuesday’s clashes follow the killing of 12 Maoists on January 16, also in the guerrillas’ heartlands in the forests of India’s Chhattisgarh state.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long insurgency waged by the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized people in India’s resource-rich central regions.
Around 287 rebels were killed in 2024, according to official figures.
The rebels, also known as Naxalites after the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
“Another mighty blow to Naxalism,” Interior Minister Amit Shah said in a statement, confirming that 14 rebels had been “neutralized.”
Shah, who has set a deadline of March 2026 to defeat the rebels, said that “Naxalism is breathing its last.”
Police said reinforcements had been sent to the area.
“Forces are still inside the forest,” said Vivekananda Sinha, head of Chhattisgarh’s anti-Maoist operation.
The Maoists demand land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents.
They made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south, and the movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s.
New Delhi then deployed tens of thousands of troops in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”
The conflict has also seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces. A roadside bomb killed at least nine Indian troops this month.
Landslide kills 16 in Indonesia’s Central Java, official says
- The landslide was triggered by heavy rains in the area
- The search for those missing has been hampered by rain
JAKARTA: A landslide in Indonesia’s Central Java city of Pekalongan killed 16 people and injured 10, an official at the country’s regional disaster mitigation agency and police said on Tuesday.
The landslide was triggered by heavy rains in the area, Bergas Caturasi, an official at the country’s regional disaster mitigation agency told news channel Kompas TV.
The search for those missing has been hampered by rain, Bergas said.
“The search continues on, because we don’t have a lot of time. We’re in a race with the weather,” he said.
Afghan Taliban announce Qatar-brokered prisoner swap deal with US
- Afghan fighter Khan Mohammad imprisoned in America has been released in exchange for US citizens
- Media named the Americans as William McKenty and Ryan Corbett, the latter in Taliban custody since 2022
KABUL: The Taliban government said Tuesday they had released American citizens from prison in return for an Afghan fighter held in the United States, in a deal brokered by Qatar.
Discussions about the prisoner exchange were confirmed last year, but the swap was announced after outgoing US president Joe Biden handed over to Donald Trump, who was inaugurated on Monday.
“An Afghan fighter Khan Mohammad imprisoned in America has been released in exchange for American citizens and returned to the country,” the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said Mohammad had been serving a life sentence in the state of California after being arrested “almost two decades ago” in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.
Asked by AFP, the foreign ministry declined to provide further details or the number of American prisoners.
However, in July last year, the Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said two American prisoners were being held in custody in Afghanistan and that an exchange had been discussed with the United States.
US media named the Americans as William McKenty and Ryan Corbett, the latter in Taliban custody since 2022.
Biden came under heavy criticism for the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, more than a year after Trump presided over a deal with the Taliban insurgents to end US and NATO involvement in the two-decade war.
After Trump’s election win in November, the Taliban government had said it hoped for a “new chapter” in ties with the United States.
Taliban authorities have repeatedly said they want positive relations with every country since sweeping back to power in 2021.
No state has officially recognized their government, with restrictions on women’s rights a key sticking point for many countries, including the United States.
The Taliban government on Tuesday called the exchange “a good example of resolving issues through dialogue, expressing special gratitude for the effective role of the brotherly country of Qatar in this regard.”
“The Islamic Emirate views positively those actions of the United States that contribute to the normalization and expansion of relations between the two countries,” it added, using the Taliban authorities’ name for their government.
Dozens of foreigners have been detained by the Taliban authorities since the group’s return to power.
It is unclear how many Afghan citizens are in US custody.
At least one Afghan prisoner remains in detention at the secretive US prison Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Muhammad Rahim, whose family called for his release in November 2023.
In February last year, two former prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay until 2017 were welcomed home to Afghanistan, more than 20 years after they were arrested.
