FORMER President Jacob Zuma is expected to mount a fierce legal battle on Tuesday to avoid prison after the Constitutional Court ordered his imprisonment for 15 months on contempt charges after he defied an order to appear before the State Capture Commission.
Zuma launched a new legal fight on Friday, asking the Pietermaritzburg High Court to interdict Minister of Police Bheki Cele and the police from arresting him until the Concourt has heard his fresh application.
At a media briefing, Zuma lashed out the judges and raised concerns about his imprisonment, adding that South Africa was ‘fast sliding back to apartheid rule’.
The political implications of the court case are likely to weigh heavily on the Pietermaritzburg High Court after Zuma launched another blistering attack on the judges, saying political motivations were the driving force behind his impending arrest.
The decision followed the former president’s defiance of an order of the Constitutional Court in January to comply with the lawful summons and directives of the state capture inquiry. When the inquiry summoned him to give evidence from Feb. 15, he did not appear.
Instead he released public statements attacking the inquiry and the integrity of some of the country’s judges.
“The rule of law doesn’t mean dealing harshly with those you may dislike for whatever reason,” said Zuma.
“I am very concerned that South Africa is fast sliding back to apartheid-type rule.”
Zuma was addressing journalists at his homestead in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, where thousands of his supporters, some of them armed to the teeth, were gathered to prevent his imminent arrest.
“Being jailed without a trial is no different to the apartheid detention without trial … Sending anyone to prison without trial is a travesty of our justice system, particularly when you cannot even identify the case number of your case,” said Zuma.
“Even murderers, serial killers and bank robbers and child molesters are granted their fair opportunity to give mitigation after conviction before sentencing.”
Zuma reiterated his view that he was the victim of a political witch hunt, saying that the Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo was partial and biased.
“Judge Zondo began to treat me unfairly and with bias,” Zuma said.
“My past relationship began to manifest itself in a manner that caused him to treat me unfairly and with bias. I made a submission and pointed out exact details to support my contention that he is not neutral … This meant I was now forced to appear before somebody I have accused of bias and conflict of interest.”
Zuma added: “Had judge Zondo simply recused himself and allowed my submission to be made to somebody neutral people of SA would have heard my version regards to unsubstantiated allegations against me.”
Zuma also accused Judge Dhaya Pillay of bias.
Pillay famously issued a warrant of arrest for Zuma in February last year when he failed to appear before the Pietermaritzburg High Court, which was hearing the arms deal corruption case.
“That is why everyone was shocked when Judge Pillay issued a warrant of arrest when I was too sick to appear in court where she was presiding,” said Zuma.
“The same Judge Pillay was part of the Constitutional Court panel which ordered my detention without trial.”
Zuma said sending him to jail during the height of the pandemic was the same as sentencing him to death.
“The death sentence was declared unconstitutional in 1995 as the result of my own sacrifices and those of millions of South Africa,” said Zuma.
“My age and health condition and any other mitigating circumstances were not conceded when imprisonment was decided. My family and my comrades insist that these injustices need to be exposed.”
Zuma reiterated that he was not scared of going to jail, contrary to popular belief in the court of public opinion.
“I am not scared of going to jail for my beliefs. It will not be for the first time. I will be a prisoner of conscience. I have spent ten years in Robben Island under difficult and cruel conditions. Even then I was a prisoner of my conscience and beliefs,” Zuma said.
“If it was up to me, I would once again go to jail for my beliefs as early as today whether I come out alive or not. But I have never operated as an individual. I am therefore guided by views of my family and comrades.”
Earlier on Sunday, gunshots rang out across Nkandla as some of his supporters fired their weapons into the air, while others danced with spears and chanted war songs.
Zuma’s legal woes have divided the African National Congress (ANC) between his faction and that of his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The 79-year-old has applied to the court for the sentence to be annulled on the grounds that it is excessive and could expose him to COVID-19, which “would put him at the highest risk of death”.
He told a news conference on Sunday that he had not been vaccinated against COVID-19
“I am not vaccinated,” Zuma told the media briefing.
- Inside Politics
