South African authorities deploy army due to massive arson of trucks with goods

South Africa deployed the army in four of its provinces on July 14 after at least 21 trucks carrying goods were set on fire on national roads in various parts of the country over the past week, Report informs referring to AP.

Authorities haven't established the motive for the attacks, nor if they are connected. But Police Minister Bheki Cele said there is a possibility of economic sabotage against South Africa. He didn't say who might be behind the campaign but police are hunting for at least 12 people believed to be linked to the attacks.

“These are organised and sophisticated operations," Cele said in a statement released by the South African government's official news agency.

Cele said there was no evidence that the truck burning was connected to the violence and unrest that shook the country for a week in July 2021, when more than 350 people were killed and businesses were looted and burned in a wave of protests sparked by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma on a contempt of court conviction.

That case was back in the headlines Thursday, when South Africa's apex Constitutional Court upheld a ruling that Zuma's early release from prison on medical parole was improper and the former leader should serve the remaining 13 months of his 15-month sentence. South Africa braced itself July 14 for more violent unrest over the decision.

The Department of Corrections hasn't said if it will order Zuma back to jail or if the time he spent on medical parole will count as him having served his sentence. South African media reports said the 81-year-old former president was in Russia receiving medical treatment for an undisclosed illness.

Soldiers were deployed in the northern provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal where Zuma is from and the central province of Free State. The army would support police in their response to the truck attacks, the South African Department of Defence said.