Former president Jacob Zuma has outrightly defied an arrest order from the highest court on the land and on Monday, questions remain on what will happen next.
Jacob Zuma lambasts ‘apartheid’ arrest
Hundreds of pro-Zuma supporters descended on the vast landscapes of Nkandla, in protest against the former president’s impending arrest.
Very few face masks were seen in the unrest that played out, outside of the Nkandla homestead. It seems the 79-year-old’s supporters could care less about the COVID-19 implications a superspreader of this magnitude could have. At the top of their priority list was getting word from the man standing against the highest court on the land.
Zuma sure did not disappoint in delivering a speech fuelled with propaganda. In his view, the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) was an arm of a smear machine that has targeted him for decades.
The former president compared the arrest order to an apartheid law that was used to detain black freedom fighters without trial. The constant use of this expired law, in replacement of the actual contempt charge, played heavily in Zuma’s reason for refusing to hand himself over.
He reiterated his stance on being imprisoned for refusing to face the State Capture Inquiry hot seat under strict conditions. For as long as DCJ Raymond Zondo presided over the inquiry, he would not return.
“My age and health condition and any other mitigating circumstances were not considered when the imprisonment was decided. My family and my comrades insisted that these injustices need to be exposed. 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,” he said.
What will happen to the former president now?
A day has passed since Zuma’s deadline. From what we understand, the former president’s application to have the ConCourt ruling reviewed was approved by the apex court on Saturday.
What implications this controversial development has on Zuma’s contempt charge will be seen when the ConCourt delivers its revised ruling in the days to come.
However, the arrest warrant still stands. The matter is now with the police who are duty-bound to execute the warrant on the former president. At this time, though, neither the police minister nor Commissioner Khehla Sitole has issued a directive.
According to reports, the Zondo commission, Helen Suzman Foundation are part of the faction that has challenged the former president’s review application.
The impasse between Zuma and the rule of law remains and right now, no inkling has surfaced suggesting that the former president will find himself in orange overalls any time soon.