Don’t hold your breath over Zuma

If only the government’s coronavirus rearguard action were as effective as Jacob Zuma’s 15-year strategy to avoid prosecution, then the Covid-19 curve would have been well and truly flattened.

His announcement yesterday that he wants his day in court brought some comic relief to lockdown. He said he has fired Daniel Mantsha as his attorney and appointed well-known lawyer Eric Mabuza to represent him in his arms deal corruption trial.

Speaking through his foundation, Zuma said – his tongue barely concealed in his cheek – that he welcomed the opportunity to have his day in court and said it would give South Africans “much-needed certainty about the bona fides of the state’s case against him, as well as shed light on who exactly benefited from the alleged arms deal corruption”.

The refrain of wanting his day in court – sublimely ignoring the reality that it is he who has been repeatedly delaying that eventuality – has been present right from the beginning.

For many people, the repetition, coupled with his Stalingrad defence of delay, delay, delay, raises the question about why he has been so keen to put off the trial for so long.

Will we finally find out? We advise against holding your breath…

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