Zuma did not want to establish the commission, he was forced – Niehaus

Former president Jacob Zuma does not want the country to be “torn apart nor does he want bloodshed”, however, he will not “forfeit his constitutional rights.”

These are the words of the Umkhonto Wesizwe Military Veterans Association’s (MKMVA) Carl Niehaus outside Zuma’s Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday.

Members of the MKMVA are camping outside Zuma’s home to form a human shield as the deadline draws closer for Zuma to hand himself to the nearest police station to begin his 15-month jail sentence after he was found guilty of contempt of court on Monday.

Niehaus said that if Zuma is arrested, violence would be inevitable.

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“In the coming days, there will be a heavy burden on MKMVA to fulfil that mandate (of protecting Zuma) but also to act with the discipline of militants,” said Niehaus.

Niehaus said that Zuma was heavily being targeted through the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.

“We know what has happened with regard to the commission of inquiry into state capture,” said Niehaus.

“We know how that commission came about, through a very flimsy and hastily written report by the previous public protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela and how that report was used to force President Zuma to eventually announce the state capture commission.”

He said that Zuma did not want to establish the commission but rather forced into doing so.

He accused Madonsela of admitting that the commission was being used as a political tool to target Zuma.

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“Recently in a press conference on the SABC, Advocate Madonsela declared that the Zondo commission was appointed in order to target president Zuma,” he said.

“The manner in which the Zondo commission has been operating right from the beginning confirms what advocate Madonsela told us, we have seen how the deputy chief justice who is also the chair of the Zondo commission has been most intolerant towards president Zuma.”

He described the sentencing of Zuma as a travesty of justice.

He said that the law has now been turned into a selective instrument in order to fight political and factional battles

“The law has become the handling of those who oppose the fundamental transformation of our country ,” said Niehaus.