South Africa’s Zuma In Legal Battle To Avoid Jail Term

South Africa: South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma on Friday
(Jul 3) mounted a last-ditch legal bid to avoid prison after the
country’s top court ordered him jailed for failing to appear before
graft investigators.

In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday handed
Zuma a 15-month term for contempt after he snubbed a probe into the
theft of state assets under his tenure.

If the 79-year-old fails to turn himself in by Sunday, police
will be given a further three days to arrest him and take him to
jail to start the sentence.

As the deadline loomed, Zuma pleaded on Friday that the order be
“reconsidered and rescinded.”

“It will not be futile,” Zuma said in papers filed to the court,
“to make one last attempt to invite the Constitutional Court to
relook its decision and to merely reassess whether it has acted
within the Constitution or, erroneously, beyond the powers vested
in the court by the Constitution.”

He cited his “own unstable state of health… it is my physical
life that the incarceration order threatens.”

He said it was “no exaggeration to label (the ruling) as cruel
and degrading punishment.”

In this light, Zuma argued, he believed he was entitled to a
court that would examine his request “with dispassionate interest
but a keen sense of judicial duty and independence.”

According to a copy of a warrant of committal seen on Friday,
Zuma would be taken to Westville Prison in southeastern Kwa-Zulu
Natal province.

Supporters gathered on Friday outside Zuma’s rural home at
Nkandla, about 200 kilometres (120 miles) away, in a show of
solidarity.

About two dozen women who said they travelled more than 300 kms
overnight from the neighbouring Eastern Cape province camped at the
entrance to his home.

“We support Zuma and we want to know what is going to happen
with him, which is why we are here,” 43-year-old Cecilia Nongce
told AFP, wearing a traditional Nguni blue-and-red blanket to ward
off the cold.

“We love Nxamala,” she said in Zulu, referring to Zuma by his
clan name, adding that they hoped he would come out to speak to
them.

A group of other supporters arrived in two mini-buses waving ANC
flags and wearing white T-shirts with the inscription ‘wenzeni
uZuma’, Zulu for “What has Zuma done?”

Two tents have been erected to shelter members of the veterans
of ANC’s armed struggle wing Umkhonto we Sizwe, who have staunchly
stood behind Zuma in recent years.

LOYAL FOLLOWING

Zuma’s nine years were stained by scandal and allegations of
graft, ending disastrously in 2018 when he was forced out by the
ruling ANC and replaced as president by Cyril Ramaphosa.

But he is also charismatic, rising from herdboy to the
presidency, and is one of the historic figures in the fight against
apartheid, spending 10 years in prison at notorious Robben
Island.

He retains a deeply loyal network of lawmakers, officials and
grassroots supporters on the left flank of the ANC.

“We will not allow President Zuma to go to jail,” said Carl
Niehaus, a close friend of Zuma and a former ANC spokesman. “We
will be uncompromising.”

Outside his house, a group of mostly young black men sang a song
called “Asinalo Uvalo,” which translates as “We are not afraid or
ashamed or what we do.”

One of the verses ran, “We are not afraid of this Cyril who
disgusts us, we are not afraid of this Zuma whom we love.”

DIVISIONS

Apparently fearing a showdown, the ANC said it had postponed a
scheduled meeting of its top National Executive Committee this
weekend.

“The national officials were mindful of the situation developing
in Kwa-Zulu Natal and the need for the ANC to give clear and
principled leadership to ensure the maintenance of the rule of law
and to avoid any violence, injury, or loss of life,” the party said
in a statement.

The ex-president’s foundation on Wednesday described the jail
sentence as “emotional”, “angry” and “not consistent with our
constitution”.

Zuma is separately due in court in July facing 16 charges of
fraud, graft and racketeering relating to a 1999 purchase of
fighter jets, patrol boats and military gear from five European
arms firms for 30 billion rand, then the equivalent of nearly US$5
billion.

Source: AFP

South Africa: South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma on Friday
(Jul 3) mounted a last-ditch legal bid to avoid prison after the
country’s top court ordered him jailed for failing to appear before
graft investigators.

In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday handed
Zuma a 15-month term for contempt after he snubbed a probe into the
theft of state assets under his tenure.

If the 79-year-old fails to turn himself in by Sunday, police
will be given a further three days to arrest him and take him to
jail to start the sentence.

As the deadline loomed, Zuma pleaded on Friday that the order be
“reconsidered and rescinded.”

“It will not be futile,” Zuma said in papers filed to the court,
“to make one last attempt to invite the Constitutional Court to
relook its decision and to merely reassess whether it has acted
within the Constitution or, erroneously, beyond the powers vested
in the court by the Constitution.”

He cited his “own unstable state of health… it is my physical
life that the incarceration order threatens.”

He said it was “no exaggeration to label (the ruling) as cruel
and degrading punishment.”

In this light, Zuma argued, he believed he was entitled to a
court that would examine his request “with dispassionate interest
but a keen sense of judicial duty and independence.”

According to a copy of a warrant of committal seen on Friday,
Zuma would be taken to Westville Prison in southeastern Kwa-Zulu
Natal province.

Supporters gathered on Friday outside Zuma’s rural home at
Nkandla, about 200 kilometres (120 miles) away, in a show of
solidarity.

About two dozen women who said they travelled more than 300 kms
overnight from the neighbouring Eastern Cape province camped at the
entrance to his home.

“We support Zuma and we want to know what is going to happen
with him, which is why we are here,” 43-year-old Cecilia Nongce
told AFP, wearing a traditional Nguni blue-and-red blanket to ward
off the cold.

“We love Nxamala,” she said in Zulu, referring to Zuma by his
clan name, adding that they hoped he would come out to speak to
them.

A group of other supporters arrived in two mini-buses waving ANC
flags and wearing white T-shirts with the inscription ‘wenzeni
uZuma’, Zulu for “What has Zuma done?”

Two tents have been erected to shelter members of the veterans
of ANC’s armed struggle wing Umkhonto we Sizwe, who have staunchly
stood behind Zuma in recent years.

LOYAL FOLLOWING

Zuma’s nine years were stained by scandal and allegations of
graft, ending disastrously in 2018 when he was forced out by the
ruling ANC and replaced as president by Cyril Ramaphosa.

But he is also charismatic, rising from herdboy to the
presidency, and is one of the historic figures in the fight against
apartheid, spending 10 years in prison at notorious Robben
Island.

He retains a deeply loyal network of lawmakers, officials and
grassroots supporters on the left flank of the ANC.

“We will not allow President Zuma to go to jail,” said Carl
Niehaus, a close friend of Zuma and a former ANC spokesman. “We
will be uncompromising.”

Outside his house, a group of mostly young black men sang a song
called “Asinalo Uvalo,” which translates as “We are not afraid or
ashamed or what we do.”

One of the verses ran, “We are not afraid of this Cyril who
disgusts us, we are not afraid of this Zuma whom we love.”

DIVISIONS

Apparently fearing a showdown, the ANC said it had postponed a
scheduled meeting of its top National Executive Committee this
weekend.

“The national officials were mindful of the situation developing
in Kwa-Zulu Natal and the need for the ANC to give clear and
principled leadership to ensure the maintenance of the rule of law
and to avoid any violence, injury, or loss of life,” the party said
in a statement.

The ex-president’s foundation on Wednesday described the jail
sentence as “emotional”, “angry” and “not consistent with our
constitution”.

Zuma is separately due in court in July facing 16 charges of
fraud, graft and racketeering relating to a 1999 purchase of
fighter jets, patrol boats and military gear from five European
arms firms for 30 billion rand, then the equivalent of nearly US$5
billion.

Source: AFP