Zuma lashes out at Madonsela, judiciary
FORMER president Jacob Zuma has continued to criticise former public protector Thuli Madonsela and Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, placing the blame for his arrest in early July, squarely on their shoulders.
An unrepentant Zuma yesterday addressed his supporters via a Facebook feed from Nkandla after failing to show up at his welcome home rally and prayer staged at the People’s Park in Durban.
He insisted that the Constitutional Court “majority judgment is bad in law” and he was “unconstitutionally” jailed.
For his non-appearance in person at the well-attended rally, Zuma cited “known reasons” – his ill-health, which saw him released on medical parole on September 5, two months into a 15-month contempt of the Concourt sentence.
Kicking off his speech, Zuma insisted that he was a prisoner of the democratic state where the black majority controls the levers of power, saying his parole was similar to being jailed albeit under different circumstances.
He thanked his supporters for their undying support even after he was thrown into jail.
Still taking a swipe at the judiciary, Zuma said a lot was wrong and something must be done to fix it.
“It is this state that has imprisoned me without trial, something has gone terribly wrong in our country.
“The main aspects of the unconstitutional debacle that ended with my current imprisonment have been repeating (for years).
“I remain a prisoner under very strict parole conditions,” he said.
Zuma said it was wrong for Madonsela to take away his powers to appoint the chairperson of the state capture commission.
The position eventually went to Justice Zondo who Zuma singled out as one of the people behind his current woes and the reason why he was jailed.
Turning to the last minutes of his freedom before he was jailed, Zuma said his decision to surrender and start serving his jail sentence on July 7 was taken to prevent “a dangerous war” that could have resulted in a loss of lives for innocent people. “The last days before the arrest, armed security forces descended on the King Cetshwayo district municipality.
“Its declared intention was to execute my arrest, regardless of any potential loss of life.
“My comrades and supporters were demonstrating against what appeared to be a heavy handed and unwarranted show of state violence to arrest me.
“To avoid a dangerous war, a situation which was looming and indeed to avoid the loss of lives of innocent citizens, including members of my family I handed myself to be jailed at the Estcourt prison,” Zuma said.
Turning to internal ANC matters, Zuma took a veiled swipe at the ruling party’s president Cyril Ramaphosa and the current leadership of the ANC.
He said some people mistook the behaviour of the current ANC leaders for the party itself, yet that is not the case. He said, “the ANC is us."
“Some people often mistake the behaviour of the incumbent leadership to be the behaviour of the ANC.
“The ANC is rooted amongst the people, with members… others mistake misbehaving members for the ANC,” he said.
Zuma further pleaded with his supporters to back the ANC at the polls because if they shuned it, they would significantly weaken the ruling party.