Embattled South African ex-President, Jacob Zuma, has likened the constitutional court’s sentence of 15 months to a death sentence.
Zuma was speaking at a media briefing this Sunday evening at the back of having been found guilty of contempt of court.
Prior to his submission of an urgent application for rescission at the highest court in SA, Zuma was supposed to hand himself over to the police today.
But he will not any more as the court has agreed to hear his case on the 12th of July.
“Even murderers, serial killers, bank robbers and child molesters are granted their fair opportunity to give mitigation after conviction but before sentencing. In my case a strange procedure was adopted by asking me for mitigation before I was found guilty.”
“It cannot be that there is Zuma laws in South Africa. Only Jacob Zuma is told that normal procedures are not applicable. Only Jacob Zuma is told that appeal processes are too protracted.”
“Only Jacob Zuma is asked to give mitigation before being found guilty. Only Jacob Zuma’s name is mentioned that the highest court in the land agrees to be a court of first instance in criminal proceedings.”
“Sending me to jail during the height of a pandemic at my age is the same as sentencing me to death. The death sentence was declared unconstitutional in South Africa in 1995,” he said.
He has said that contrary to “propaganda against” him, he has never refused to appear before the state capture commission.
He said the disagreement or discomfort from his side is that his past relations with judge Raymond Zondo began to manifest in a manner that caused him to treat him unfairly and with bias.
“It is in fact incorrect to refer to the state capture commission as the Zondo commission. If something happened to judge Zondo the commission would still continue. If a number of his family was implicated in state capture allegations, he would necessarily have to recuse himself.”
“I made a submission to judge Zondo pointing out exact details to support my contention that he is not neutral. He also made his own submission to disprove my contention and subsequently ruled that his own submission is victorious. This then meant that I was now forced to appear before somebody I have accused of bias and conflict of interest.”
“As things stand right now that issue is being adjudicated in a court of law and I am still awaiting the outcome of that court. Had judge Zondo simply recused himself and allow my submission to be made to someone neutral, the people of South Africa would have heard my version as regards all the unsubstantiated allegations against me,” he said.
Zuma has said that all he is asking for is fairness and consistency.
He said he is not the first person to have a reason not to appear at the state capture commission.
He said he must not be understood to be condoning any acts or conduct that seek to deliberately frustrate the objects of the commission.
“The only point I seek to make is how the commission responded to some of the individuals who defied the calls to appear before the commission. Some of those include prominent names in the private sector who were not persecuted with subpoenas.”
“Even the constitutional court was inconsistent in a whole range of instances including denying direct access to cases involving life and death matters but granting direct access for squabbles which could have been referred elsewhere.”
“The fact that I was lambasted with a punitive jail sentence without trial is something which should induce a sense of shock to all those who cherish freedom and the rule of law. The rule of law does not mean dealing harshly with those you may dislike for whatever reason.”
“I am very concerned that South Africa is fast sliding back to apartheid type rule. I am facing long detention without trial. Elsewhere the SG of the ANC has a burning order prohibiting him from addressing meetings. We have a level four lockdown with all hallmarks of a state of emergency and the curfews of the 1980s.”
