Edward Zuma ‘angered and disgusted’ by dad’s warrant of arrest

Former president Jacob Zuma’s son, Edward, has declined to comment on the state of his father’s health, saying he will leave commentary to the doctors and lawyers.

Edward Zuma said this while slamming the court for acceding to the State’s request for a warrant of arrest against the former statesman.

In a statement, Edward said he was disgusted and angered by the judgment on Tuesday.

He said his father had no intention of evading the law, adding that the warrant against Zuma was not necessary.

“Former President Zuma has never and will never evade the law hence the issuing of the warrant of arrest, stayed or not, was really not necessary, but it was just done to spite the nature and character of the former president.

“It was a decision taken out of hatred for the man, it’s being vindictive, vicious and very much abuse of the judiciary for personal reasons (sic). This they do forgetting that the old wounds have not healed and we are gradually getting tired of them abusing the system. Our patience is running out as we can see what is happening. However, we don’t want to be tested as people,” Edward said.

On Tuesday, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg issued a warrant of arrest after Jacob Zuma failed to appear for his fraud and corruption case.

His legal team told the court he was too ill to attend and submitted a sick note.

ALSO READ: PIC: Zuma’s ‘sick note’ emerges, provoking scorn and mockery online

Judge Dhaya Pillay questioned the strength of the proof presented to court by Zuma’s lawyer. Pillay said it appeared the dates on the document had been altered. She said Daniel Mantsha, acting on Zuma’s behalf, could not clarify certain questions she had.

In his statement, Edward Zuma questioned the motives behind the judgement. He also questioned the proximity of Judge Pillay to people whom he believed are “hellbent in seeing the destruction of Zuma at all costs”.

“The hatred they have for Zuma has become their religion and they are busy recruiting, or let me rather say, they are continuing to tell lies and diminish and destroy the legacy of the father of Radical Economic Transformation (RET), free education and land expropriation without compensation.

“RET will be our mission until the highest structure of my movement decides otherwise. So for now, I will call upon all those that can see what is being done to Zuma to stand up and make ourselves loud in his defence and the defence of RET.”

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.