Zuma arrest hearing gets underway

Pietermaritzburg. In a desperate bid to stay out of jail, his warrant having already been signed, former South African president Jacob Zuma yesterday launched an urgent stay of execution application in the High Court in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial capital of Pietermaritzburg.

After more than four hours of argument by Mr Zuma’s lawyers, the court had still to hear responses from opposing counsel.

The High Court faces a problem arising from Mr Zuma’s latest legal efforts to avoid jail-time following his sentencing a week ago by the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa to 15 months behind bars for contempt of its prior order that he attend Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s three-year-long probe into corruption to answer questions there.

The Court may well find, say legal experts, that Zuma’s argument has merit in that the Concourt has agreed to hear Mr Zuma’s pleas in mitigation of the sentence it imposed on him. But the High Court has no jurisdiction and power to overrule the Concourt’s ruling.

Some legal experts said it appeared that Mr Zuma had “upped the ante” in his legal struggles by creating a situation where a lower court might be forced to rule on a superior court’s findings.

Besides continuing with his now famous ‘Stalingrad’ strategy of fighting at every legal turn, Mr Zuma’s efforts to rally supporters around him at the weekend – which saw a stand-off between several hundred supporters, many armed, with police – has drawn the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party’s ire.

Acting secretary-general of the party, Jessie Duarte, said that the ANC’s national executive, its top decision-making body, had met yesterday to discuss weekend developments at and outside Zuma’s rural residence at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal.

She said that the ANC fully supported the courts and the Concourt, but did not want to intervene in any way in the legal battles going on around Mr Zuma’s possible arrest.

There was, however, harsh criticism for Mr Zuma’s supporters who had harassed and in some instances attacked journalists covering events at Nkandla, as well as the use of firearms in public. The ANC also lambasted those violating lockdown rules to show their support for the former leader.

Walking carefully around the divisive issue of whether Mr Zuma should now be summarily put in jail, following the expiry of the five days given to him by the Concourt to hand himself over at midnight Sunday, Ms Duarte said that ANC wished Zuma “good luck” in his court actions, but said it would remain law abiding and required all its members to do likewise, including Zuma’s supporters.

Illegal gathering

On senior ANC figures who took to a stage outside Mr Zuma’s home to address an illegal gathering of Zuma fans, some vowing to “die to protect Zuma”– all meetings being banned as the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus 19 races through the country – Ms Duarte said there would be disciplinary proceedings,.

She was referencing specifically her former boss, suspended ANC secretary general Ace Magashule, who had said Sunday that ANC members loyal to him and Zuma should ignore the ANC leadership if it disbanded sub-units of the party, such as some branches or the one of two former ‘veterans’ associations which backs Zuma.

Ms Duarte said that the ANC leadership had confirmed a recent decision to disband the ‘veterans’ grouping backing Mr Zuma, but not because of that, rather due to a new veterans association being formed, amalgamating all existing formations.

Questioned about why police had held off on those breaching lockdown and those brandishing and firing weapons in public, Ms Duarte said a decision had been made not to escalate matters to avoid bloodshed, especially of women and children present, which seemed highly likely had police acted in a tough fashion.

“When we learnt that people were being brought in, although in small numbers, from other parts of the country and that there were weapons in the crowd, it was decided to de-escalate,” she said.

But there was no general rebellion in favour of Zuma, as some had tried to make out, she added.

Police minister Bheke Cele said those responsible were “known” to police, who had both uniformed and plain cloths officers on hand.

“Arrests will be made. But we will not say more,” he added. Mr Cele confirmed that the police, through the State Attorney, had asked for guidance from the Concourt on its arrest order, given that it will now hear Mr Zuma’s clemency appeal on July 12.

Mr Zuma said Sunday that there was “no need” for him to be arrested as the Concourt was going to hear his pleas next week.

But Mr Cele admitted that the Concourt’s prior ruling, giving police until midnight Wednesday to arrest Mr Zuma, should he have not handed himself over which he has not done, would stand without such guidance being provided by the court.

“If we do not hear from the Constitutional Court, we know what our orders are,” said Mr Cele.

‘Treasonous’

Hundreds of followers converged at his home on Sunday, dressed in the regalia of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party regalia or in traditional Zulu warrior costumes.

Wearing a black shirt embroidered with ANC colours, a maskless Zuma defiantly addressed the crowd before breaking into his signature song, the liberation struggle anthem “Awlethu Mshini Wam,” which translates to ‘Bring me my machine gun.’

Despite the breach of Covid regulations, police did not intervene to disperse the crowd.

Cele said they had decided to act cautiously, in the belief that as many as a hundred of the supporters had firearms, and there was a need to avoid “bloodshed”.

A Zulu elder and opposition politician Mangosuthu Buthelezi, 92, lambasted the crowds congregating in the midst of a pandemic as “the greatest irresponsibility of all” adding what was going on in Nkandla was “treasonous”.

“With all due respect for the sympathy people may have for Mr Zuma’s plight, challenging the state and risking lives is unacceptable,” said Buthelezi.

‘Apartheid-type rule’

Speaking from Nkandla on Sunday night, the defiant Zuma did not hold back, lashing out the judiciary once more.

“I’m very concerned that South Africa is fast sliding back to apartheid-type rule,” he told the crowd.

“I am facing a long detention without trial,” he said. “Sending me to jail during the height of a pandemic, at my age, is the same as sentencing me to death.”

His nine years in power were stained by scandal and allegations of graft, ending disastrously in 2018 when he was forced out by the ANC and replaced as president by Cyril Ramaphosa.

Despite his notoriety, Zuma commands support among many grassroots ANC members, who recall his sacrifice in the struggle against apartheid, in which he spent 10 years in prison on Robben Island.

Fearing a deepening internal rift, the ANC’s national executive committee postponed a scheduled meeting at the weekend and was to hold special talks on the Zuma crisis on Monday.

Analyst Oscar van Heerden, who is also deputy vice-chancellor of University of Fort Fare, said Zuma’s case will “deepen the cracks within the ANC. Currently there are many fractions, not just factions”.

But he expects the party’s talks to conclude with a declaration along the lines of “we are all equal before the law,...we support the ruling of the Constitutional Court” and encourage Zuma to adhere to the prescripts of the law.