‘Zuma’s future looking bleak’

Disgraced ex-president facing many court battles

INSTEAD of going into quiet retirement, former president Jacob Zuma is going to spend plenty of time trying to clear his name in court.

This is the view shared by political analysts in the wake of Zuma’s resignation on Wednesday night.

He is expected to feature prominently in court and commissions of inquiry.

The ANC had decided that Zuma be removed by a motion of no confidence after he refused to step down despite the intense pressure from within and outside the governing party. Zuma has in the past expressed his wish to become an ordinary ANC member and mayor of Nkandla Municipality, when his party reclaimed the council from IFP, and to write a “wonderful story of Gedleyihlekisa”.

Yesterday, political analyst Mcebisi Ndletyana said Zuma’s immediate future would involve court hearings and appearances at commissions of inquiry. “An appearance at the commission is almost a certainty. He is hugely implicated in the state capture project,” Ndletyana said. “His name… will also be associated with bad stuff throughout the year.”

Deputy Justice Raymond Zondo is in the process of appointing staff and setting up the establishment of a commission, in line with remedial action of former public protector Thuli Madonsela. Parliament committees are also conducting their own inquiries and he has been named by a witness in the public enterprise committee.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has yet to decide whether it will reinstate the 793 counts of fraud, racketeering and corruption. Zuma is also appealing against a court judgment which ruled that then deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa should appoint the head of the NPA.

Ndletyana said the possibility of the criminal charges being reinstated was likely to open up more scandals of corruption around Zuma.

“His immediate future is quite bleak. It might involve jail time depending on how the trial runs its course,” he said.

Another political analyst, Protas Madlala, said Zuma had too much on his plate.

“He is the common denominator in the commissions of inquiry. You can’t have a complete inquiry without asking him to appear,” Madlala said.

“It can’t be fair if you don’t invite him because it would be like talking about someone in his absence,” Madlala said.

He also said Zuma now had an opportunity to clear his name. “He (Zuma) since 2007 has been saying that he wants his day in court, so this is his opportunity,” Madlala said.

The NPA dropped charges against Zuma in 2009, a move that paved his way to high office.

Ndletyana and Madlala differed on a role likely to be played by Zuma in brokering peace in conflict-ridden African countries.

“You can’t send him to do anything honourable when he is accused of corruption. Someone like that does not have the moral authority to arbitrate in conflict,” Ndletyana said.

Madlala said that despite his legal troubles, it would have been ideal to deploy Zuma on African issues to appease him.

“The ANC might find a statesman role for him to play,” he said.

Former president Thabo Mbeki is playing a similar role in African countries and former president Kgalema Motlanthe had recently led a panel reviewing key legislation passed by Parliament since 1994.