Gatvol SAs speak: Let Zuma flee SA, then he’ll be Russia’s problem

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The Zuma versus Zondo fiasco continues and South Africans are more than a little tired of it.

After he walked out of his last hearing in November, the Constitutional Court has ruled that former South African President Jacob Zuma must testify before Raymond Zondo’s panel. However, Zuma has refused for what feels like the 50th time, saying he’d really rather just get arrested than cooperate with a judicial panel that is probing graft during his nine-year tenure.

“The Commission into allegations of State Capture can expect no further cooperation from me in any of their processes,” he said. “If this stance is considered to be a violation of their law, then let their law take its course. I do not fear being arrested, I do not fear being convicted nor do I fear being incarcerated.”

Of course, BizNews readers are more than supportive of this idea.

Still-MyOpinion247 says, “Give him the incarceration which he so desperately desires.”

“Strange how JZ has always said he wants his day in court, but by all accounts, he’s now doing his level best to try and avoid it. This guy’s an embarrassment to the country and the office he once held. He’s as guilty as Alibaba and the 40 thieves and he knows it,” says Joe Cool Jnr.

Zuma Facebook comment

rage against the shebeen makes an excellent point. “Zuma said he’s not afraid of jail. For an innocent man he sure is k@k bang of his ‘friend’ Zondo and his day in court.”

Read also: Will Jacob Zuma ever serve jail time for corruption? Here’s why it’s unlikely – Paul O’Sullivan

Zuma Facebook comment

Former Johannesburg Mayor and leader of ActionSA Herman Mashaba believes it’s less to do with Zuma’s willingness to go to jail and more to do with the fact that the former president is planning to flee the country. Mashaba wrote an open letter to government, voicing his fears and calling for action to be taken so that Zuma can finally be brought to justice for the estimated R500bn ($33bn) that was stolen from state coffers during his rule.

“Reports emerging from numerous sources indicate that former President Jacob Zuma may be readying to jet out of South Africa to Russia in what is believed to be a bid to avoid his appointment with the State Capture Commission,” Mashaba writes. “ActionSA calls upon President Ramaphosa and the South African government to immediately take possession of Zuma’s passport, as a pre-cautionary measure, to ensure that he cannot depart from the country until he has fulfilled his responsibilities to the State Capture Commission.”

“Zuma has demonstrated a willingness to treat the State Capture Commission with contempt and has a long history of employing legal tactics to avoid facing accountability in our courts. If Zuma is allowed to depart the country, it would undoubtedly be in transport arrangements made and financed through the state benefits he continues to receive from the South African taxpayer. It would indicate a conspiracy to assist Zuma’s efforts to defy the Constitutional Court and his responsibilities to the Commission he was ultimately compelled to establish.”

“Should Zuma depart from South Africa to avoid his appearance at the State Capture Commission, ActionSA will be launching its own investigation to determine how this was authorised and which government officials enabled Zuma to depart.”

Read also: Edward Zuma, Duduzane Zuma: Bank accounts frozen but when will they face justice? #2020

However, some community members are singing a very different tune to Mashaba. They feel that Zuma leaving the country is the lesser of two evils.

Zuma Facebook comment

A flabbergasted Geoff Smailes says, “My only question is why jz783 still has a passport!”

Freedom Under Law (FUL) CEO Nicole Fritz is outraged by Zuma’s defiance of the rule of law. She released the following statement:

Mr Zuma has gone too far. When he took office as president of our country he promised to be faithful to the Republic and to obey, observe, uphold and maintain the Constitution and all other law. Many witnesses have told the Zondo Commission that he and his associates have breached each of those promises.

The country has watched Mr Zuma deploy clever tricks in his desperate attempt to avoid responding to these accusations. The Constitutional Court has now made it clear that the time for this ducking and diving is over. Instead of complying with its simple instruction, Mr Zuma has now resorted to his well-worn defence of victimhood wrapped in populism.

This time, though, it is breathtaking in its presumption. Mr Zuma not only blames the dismissal of each of his lawyers’ evasive tactics on dishonest judges but seriously equates his fear of the witness stand with the heroic battle for freedom and justice of the late Robert Sobukwe. This is bare-faced effrontery, even for Mr Zuma’s spin-doctors.

Of course Mr Zuma’s conduct – ably aided and abetted throughout by his lawyers – has been in calculated defiance of the rule of law. If he persists in his refusal to respond to the mass of allegations, we look forward to the law taking its course.

Do you think Zuma will flee SA? Add your voice to the discussion below.

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