Hosia Mviringi
Former South African President Jacob Zuma appeared in public for the first time on Saturday since he was committed to a 15 month prison term by the country’s Constitutional Court.
Zuma hardly came out of his Nkandla compound when he came out to address his supporters.
He came out flanked by the Zulu Royal Army (Amabutho), or the Zulu regiment, the traditional fighters who symbolises outflanked order of protection from the Zulu King.
Most significantly in his address, Zuma came out brandishing the Zulu Isihlangu (Spear and shield), which is a cultural symbol of war.
“They sentenced me to go and serve 15 months in prison. I don’t know my crime, they never informed me of my crime, but what I heard from the Court proceedings is that they were only answering to my political sentiments that they are breaking the law.
But my lawyers are going to file an appeal, to say to the Court that this sentence is improper. I am not sure yet how the appeal ended.
But what I know is that it will become very difficult when they insist that I should go and serve a jail sentence when I committed no crime. That’s where the difficulty will be,” said Zuma to wild cheers from his gathered supporters.
Zuma indicated his conviction that the Judiciary are very inexperienced or grossly misinformed when it comes to statecraft and justice delivery
He accused them of abuse of office and power.
“To me, it shows that the judges, and maybe the leaders of this country, don’t how to handle or manage the country nor justice delivery.
When you are given the power to govern, you don’t abuse that power.
Because it is possible that they can create a big disaster in the country, an unprecedented disaster which cannot be managed.
“I hope that you all remember that when this commission was put together, I told them openly that one day they will cry because this thing is unprecedented.
Because each and every country has got its secrets, things that should never be revealed to the public under whatever circumstances,” he continued.
The former President thanked all Zulu traditional leaders who graced the occasion for standing by him and sounding their reservations and objections to the government over the sentence.
“You don’t go about stirring people’s anger when people say they don’t like it, you go on and do it just because you got the law in your hands.
I want to thank you my lords (traditional leaders) under whose jurisdiction I submit, for your words of advice and warning to the authorities that govern us. They should know who they got in their hands,” said uMsholozi as he is affectionately known among his legion of supporters.
Former President Zuma was found guilty of contempt of Court when he defiantly refused to appear before the Justice Zondo Chaired Commission on State Capture.
Zuma said he was not going to submit to Zondo as chair of the commission because he holds strong objections against Justice Zondo presiding over the commission.
Instead, he demanded that Justice Zondo recuse himself from the bench, at least for the period of his appearance. But Justice Zondo rubbished the demands and stayed put on the bench thereby creating a nasty stalemate.
Meanwhile, lawyers representing Mr Zuma have successfully filed an appeal against the sentence in the same court that passed the sentence, the Constitutional Court, and the appeal has been set down for July the 12th 2021.
Recent Comments