Jacob Zuma, former president of South Africa has been sentenced to serve a fifteen month jail for contempt of court. Indeed South Africa is a country of possibilities. That’s what they say when they advertise the country for tourism. This is a country where Nelson Mandela made to president from prison. Now it has been decided by the highest court in the land that Jacob Zuma must complete the cycle by going to prison from the presidency.
I chose to speak to two attorneys that I regard to be great legal minds in this country and these are Chuchuchu Nchunga and Kenneth Rapoo. I particularly sought legal opinion from Nchunga because he did his LLM in South Africa at the University of Cape Town and has had a lot of legal exposure in that country.
On the other hand Rapoo who is practicing as a private attorney in Gaborone has very critical experience on issues of security. Besides his law degree from the University of Botswana, the retired BDF major has a critical qualification as he has a Masters of Arts in Military Science from International Command and Staff College in Nanjing, China
It is from the background of these two great minds that I have sought to draw my opinion from what I have discussed with them. This is because the Jacob Zuma debacle is not just a legal issue, it has far reaching security ramifications and this does not need to be taken lightly. The country of South Africa could pivot on this issue and never remain the same.
The Zulus are ready to defend their perceived defacto president. To the Zulus, the issue of removing Zuma from office prematurely has not rested yet. The current situation in the country is even aggravated by the fact that it is Zuma’s successor who remains in office. They are still holding a grudge against Cyril Ramaphosa for “stealing” Zuma’s presidency. If the Zulus didn’t fight to defend their leader then, they will do it now.
The Zuma issue begins at the point where he started to have a special relationship with the Gupta family from India. The Guptas arrived in South Africa in pomp and ceremony as they were given exclusive rights to land their private jet at the Water Kloof Airforce Base before proceeding for a glamourous wedding at Sun City Resorts.
Then came Zuma’s ousting with very thick accusations of grand corruption linking him and the billionaire family from India. These are the same accusation that led to his indictment and was required to appear before a commission of enquiry that has been established to investigate what is now known as State Capture.
Zuma’s refusal to appear before Justice Raymond Zondo has led to his current sentencing by the Constitutional Court. This has been the strangest all cases seen in the South Africa legal system. A system that is considered to be one of the world’s most liberal because of their past.
It seems Zondo wanted to spite Zuma for contempt. There was nothing wrong with Zondo taking steps against anyone who violates his court, Zuma included. Naturally, the court is inherently designed to protect itself from contempt. In fact there is never any trial for contempt because that would draw witnesses from the same court accusing the individual. So Zuma had no way out of this cul-de sac.
By electing to take the Zuma matter to the highest court in in the land has been on its own an injustice because they know that Zuma would not be left with any option to appeal. Had this matter been committed to a lower court, Zuma’s lawyers could be drafting papers to appeal but that option is non-existent.
The fact that the court has allowed Zuma some five day holiday before handing himself to the authorities for his incarceration and this raises questions.. But why was the judge so generous to a point where she allowed the convict to enjoy so much freedom? Further to this, the Commissioner of Police is mandated to arrest Zuma within three days for failure to comply and that runs to a total of eight days. There has been a human face in this judgement by the judge concerned.
The president has a lot in his hands as Zuma comes across as a hot potato but there are three possible solutions that President Ramaphosa can apply to avert the coming trouble for the country. From a security point of view, this is going to bring a lot of trouble into the country if this whole thing is not handled properly.
The president has three options in the following orders. One, allow Zuma to zoom into infinity with the help of the national intelligence. Two, arrange with the Commissioner of Correctional Services to offer Zuma to serve his sentence in the comfort of his five wives at Nkandla. Three, get Zuma into prison after a deal in which the convict would announce to his followers that he is fine with going to jail. Then a presidential pardon would follow after a few days.
Any one of these three options is inherent with its own problems. Starting with the last option, once Zuma is pardoned, he will again be summoned to the same enquiry convened by Justice Zondo and will likely be exposed and ultimately charged for corruption after sufficient evidence has been gathered.
The issue at hand can have very dire consequences for the security of South Africa. Already the Zulus are gathering around Zuma’s residence in defence of their leader. Prior to the country’s freedom in 1994, Kwa Zulu Natal became a trouble spot where violence and bloodshed was not in short supply. This manifestation of violence was equally experienced in Johannesburg where there is a significant population of the Zulus.
The president has to handle this matter with care as it has the potential for many evils. This has the potential to break apart the ruling ANC and this can lead to its removal from power. Already the Zulus are talking of independence. The civil unrest will galvanize the thoughts to secede and this could be realized. The Zulus could team up with the Swazis who are equally re-discovering themselves after the flight of their king.
