‘JZ must put up or shut up’

Former president Jacob Zuma may have gone a step too far when he acknowledged knowing about corruption on Friday in Durban.

The Hawks have taken interest following his clumsy utterances.

Hawks spokesperson Hangweni Mulaudzi said: “We have taken note of the former president’s claims. Like any other responsible person, he must report the claims to the relevant authorities.”

Wits University’s associate law professor James Grant yesterday said Zuma had made himself an accomplice.

“He [Zuma] would run straight into what we call accomplice liability which is the moment he would have assisted, either positively or negatively, or by inaction or by an omission, then he may be liable as an accomplice,” he said.

Charges of defeating the ends of justice or obstructing an investigation “paled” in comparison to the seriousness of being deemed an accomplice, Grant noted.

“The best example of this was the old definition of rape. If you assisted somebody by, for instance, holding a woman down while somebody else raped her, you couldn’t be convicted of rape, only the person who committed the act could be,” he said.

“But you could be convicted as an accomplice and now this remains the truth and correct. You can be sentenced and receive the same sentence as the person who committed the deed.”

In other words, if Zuma was aware that a crime or crimes had been committed, not informing the police about them made him complicit in their commission by covering them up. And now Zuma had made the extraordinary admission, the Hawks were bound to investigate, Grant noted.

Last week, the SA Communist Party (SACP) at its 14th Congress Fourth Plenary Session said a “key priority now is to push forward with rolling back and dismantling the networks of parasitic looting of public resources that flourished under the patronage of former president Jacob Zuma”.

It is believed Zuma’s remarks on Friday and on Wednesday at a Congress of SA Students event that he shouldn’t be “provoked” were aimed at the SACP’s statement.

SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said: “Zuma had been making the same threats about the arms deal following the June 2005 decision by former president Thabo Mbeki to relieve him of his duties as the deputy president of the republic. This is continuing, 13 years later.”