Zuma’s Downer play is a switch from Stalingrad tactics to operation scorched earth

The term ‘Stalingrad tactic’ comes from the days of World War 2 when the Russians dug in their heels for five months to wear down the German forces.

Not one to be outdone by his Russian comrades, Jacob Zuma is oft said to be employing the tactic in his legal strategy.

In the 1940s, it may not have been the most honourable way to win a battle, but goodness gracious was it effective. In the 2020s, it may not be the most honourable to way to win a legal battle but the results also speak for themselves.

Remember how Advocate Billy Downer managed to knock out Schabir Shaik back in 2005? Yup, nearly 20 years and nearly two full presidential terms later, uBaba is aiming for some sort of a record.

Also Read: Judiciary adopting ‘standard position’ to reject Zuma’s cases, claims Manyi

But that’s just surface level when it comes to JZ’s legal positioning. It’s the obvious and most sexy tactic for commentators to latch onto, though it really only amounts to a minor victory. After all, when the chips are down and you don’t get your day in court, even your supporters may start to get suspicious.

What one would really need is a far more historically tested and insidious tact.

Introducing operation scorched earth! The idea is to break everything, so that nobody can use it after.

In war, it kind of makes sense since you wouldn’t want your supplies to fall into enemy hands. In law, however, it aims to break the legal system in ways that don’t make sense.

In a nutshell, if uBaba can discredit as many elements as possible when it comes to his case, he doesn’t need to win it. He’ll simply go down a martyr and let the country burn at the hands of riotous supporters.

If he plays his cards well enough, he may even have leverage to ransom himself to freedom.

And when picking targets, who better to take aim at than the dude who put his good buddy away?

Also read: Zuma’s corruption trial: Lead prosecutor expresses concern over length of postponements

From a legal perspective, it makes no difference whether the prosecutor has a personal vendetta against the accused. There is no requirement of objectivity on the part of the prosecutor.

Even in sports, a fair game isn’t determined by whether the sides field players who are of equal strength or whatever statistic. The point is that for a game to be fair, one looks to the ref.

For a legal case to be fair, one looks to the judge. There’s a reason JZ couldn’t channel his inner-Mandela and request the judge to recuse himself. He’ll find a reason to do that later and delay the matter further though.

ALSO READ: NPA has power to intervene in Zuma’s private prosecution against Downer – expert

For now, going after the prosecutor will do. And what is he going after Billy for?

Apparently Billy leaked some documents. Now the documents in question were part of the public record. At least this is the view of those who understand that documents produced in court tend to have a public element to them. This is also partly the reason why the NPA has no reason to prosecute the advocate.

One of the things about our law is that if the NPA elects not to prosecute, a private citizen may then do so. That’s exactly what’s happening here.

Yes, JZ is convinced he has a case and will make it in court where the NPA couldn’t find a case to be had. Although the victory he’s looking for isn’t one of winning the case. It’s almost laughable how little merit there is to his case.

No, instead, the victory sought will be to paint the entire system as one that is out to get uBaba. It’s about pestering and wearing down the prosecutor who has, for nearly 20 years, been working on this case. It’s about replacing him with somebody from the NPA who is more likely to fumble and give JZ a better chance of walking away on a technicality.

Downer staying the course is indeed going to be a sweet soft legal victory. Downer being acquitted of the private charges will be the hard legal victory.

But the judge scolding JZ for abusing the legal system, that’s what we need to see.

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