AWKWARD: ‘Hands Of Zuma’ T-shirt leaves SA shaking its head

It hasn’t taken long for former president Jacob Zuma’s supporters to mobilise against any possibility of his arrest – and they’ve even had T-shirts printed.

The only problem is that the first batch of “hands off Zuma” T-shirts were misprinted to declare “HANDS OF ZUMA” instead, with the graphical hand even more awkwardly ending up on the breasts of any supporter brave or ignorant enough to wear it.

This has both bemused and amused Mzansi, with the photo spreading on social networks and tweeps even popularising the hashtag #HandsOfZuma.

https://twitter.com/ireneketa/status/1411993989629235201?s=20

Some have pointed out the obvious irony given Zuma’s fecundity and numerous sexual partners over the years.

It’s also not the first time his supporters have made this mistake.

Outside court waiting for the former president Mr Jacob Zuma#handsofzuma pic.twitter.com/cOE9cRgStB

— zeesihlobosa (@Aziwe08692789) April 6, 2018

Overall, it continues a long tradition in ANC and South African politics of amusing print blunders, with the best probably still being the T-shirts that in 2014 celebrated Nelson Mandela’s life but were misprinted with the quote: “The purpose of freedoom is to create it for others.”

Maybe its about the hands of Zuma https://t.co/6zkAsEZeLQ

— Pieter Bester (@Equitypers) July 5, 2021

You can watch an interview below with one of Zuma’s supporters wearing the T-shirt on his way to Nkandla, where Zuma is defying arrest after being sentenced to 15 months in prison by the Constitutional Court.

The former president has filed applications to have his arrest stayed and the contempt judgment against him rescinded. Police Minister Bheki Cele has also opted to delay the arrest due to this pending litigation, despite the courts still requiring the former president to be detained with a Wednesday deadline for his arrest.

Zuma has claimed total innocence once again, demanding to know what he’s actually done wrong and how it should be possible for him to be imprisoned “without trial”.

He initially fell foul of the law after refusing to testify at the state capture commission, which led to agreement among apex court judges that he had shown contempt and should be punished.

A minority of justices, however, preferred the idea of handing down a suspended sentence to him, a fact that was immediately seized upon by his camp as evidence of disunity on the bench.