Dwindling support and no tears for Zuma
SOUTH AFRICANS ARE GROWING WEARY OF THE SAME SONG OVER AND OVER. WE WANT TO SEE ACTION AND PEOPLE BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE
Former president Jacob Zuma’s victim currency is depreciating fast. The high court in Pietermaritzburg dismissed his application for a permanent stay of prosecution, he has a hefty legal bill, he could lose his Nkandla home and he has not escaped questioning at the state capture inquiry. His support is clearly weakening.
Zuma appeared in the high court again this week on armsdeal graft charges after the rejection of his plea for a permanent stay of prosecution. At his first appearance in April 2018, after reinstatement of the charges, his supporters flocked to the court. However, the crowd has been dwindling as the case trudges along.
After each appearance Zuma would emerge from the court to address his supporters. I remember the first appearance in Durban, when the crowd was so big it was hard to get to the stage set up outside the court.
This week, social media videos showed a small group in front of the stage and a few more people standing under the trees to escape the glaring sun. Hardly the large crowds he was used to pulling.
But for Zuma’s backers this was not a sign of dwindling support but an act of sabotage. Former KwaZulu-Natal agriculture MEC Meshack Radebe reportedly made the allegation shortly before the former president was due to address the smaller than expected crowd in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday. He said somebody cancelled buses meant to ferry the masses to the court.
“We went to”bed TimesLIVE knowing we had buses to take people, but in the morning we woke up to SMSes saying the buses had been cancelled, reported Radebe as saying. “I will leave [it] to our leaders to investigate who cancelled the buses.”
Other reports said Radebe and KwaZulu-Natal education MEC Kwazi Mshengu were the only top ANC members at the court. During previous appearances, provincial premier Sihle Zikalala, former North West premier and MP Supra Mahumapelo and former minister Faith Muthambi, now an MP and parliamentary committee chair, would be in the audience to support Zuma. Political support is fickle, and people need to curry political favour with the new leadership to keep their jobs. At this stage, supporting Zuma does nothing for political careers.
Zuma is still doing everything he can to avoid accountability, despite saying he has no money. Zuma and Thales, the French arms company accused of bribing him, will seek to appeal against the dismissal of their bids to permanently stop their prosecution going ahead.
Laughably, Zuma’s advocate Thabani Masuku told the court this week that his client “has been ready to face this trial for 14 years” and is glad the state is finally ready to proceed. This was followed swiftly by a statement that Zuma will appeal against the dismissal of his plea for a permanent stay of prosecution. This does not sound like a man ready to have his day in court.
The state will oppose this attempt. Prosecutor Billy Downer says he believes there is little prospect of success. Meanwhile, the corruption case has been postponed to February 2020.
After his brief appearance and while addressing the small group of supporters outside court, Zuma did what he always does: play the victim. He said he was appealing against the dismissal of the permanent stay of prosecution as there was no clear explanation why it was dismissed.
But the court clearly said, in its judgment, that it had found “no evidence” that former National Prosecuting Authority acting head Mokotedi Mpshe’s 2009 decision to reinstate corruption charges against Zuma was politically motivated. This was Zuma’s argument for his belief that the case should not go ahead.
This tired excuse is starting to look like a stuck record. It was Zuma’s legal team that conceded in the Supreme Court of Appeal that the decision by Mpshe to withdraw the charges due to apparent political interference was irrational. This is what led to the charges against Zuma being reinstated in 2018. South Africans are growing weary of the same song over and over. They want to see action and people, including Zuma, being held accountable.
Earlier this week, Ramaphosa reportedly said at the FT Africa Summit in London that 10 years of corruption under Zuma probably cost SA more than R500bn. He said some even suggested R1-trillion.
So as we sit with more loadshedding because Eskom, eroded under Zuma during the state capture project, is struggling to keep the lights on, let us hope Zuma and his cronies finally get what they deserve. And it is not our sympathy.