Zuma is back to his old tricks

Former president Jacob Zuma’s Stalingrad tactic of never-ending appeals of court judgments – including the multibillion-rand arms deal case, spanning over 14 years – was delaying justice being served on him, with the latest twist seeing him let off the hook till at least February.

Commenting on the Zuma legal team’s intention to apply for leave to appeal last week’s dismissal of the application, which he and co-accused French arms dealer Thales lodged for a permanent stay of prosecution, Xolani Dube of the Xubera Institute for Research and Development said the move would lead to justice “not being served”.

Occasionally giggling while talking to his legal team and appearing unfazed by the recent judgment, which overturned his earlier application, Zuma briefly sat in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg to hear his case.

Zuma’s advocate, Thabani Masuku, said despite the former president having waited for 14 years for his day in court, this did not mean he would forego his right to seek other legal avenues.

“We have been ready for 14 years. Mr Zuma would, however, like to exercise his right to appeal the permanent stay of prosecution decision,” he said.

Zuma has until November 1 to file papers in the leave to appeal application, with the application set to be heard on November 22.

The criminal trial will return on February 4, 2020, for pre-trial proceedings.

“As South Africa, we need to see justice being served on Jacob Zuma,” said Dube. “But we are not going to see that because he is delaying justice due to his Stalingrad approach.

“Once this case is finally finished, he will be 85 years old and there are many South Africans who will be sympathetic to him because of old age.

“We have become accustomed to not seeing an elder going behind bars because we are a country of no consequences.”

Due to his fightback campaign, with the trial giving him a rare platform to appeal to supporters, Dube cautioned against Zuma being written off politically.

“Never forget that Zuma is the godfather of South African politics. The ANC is treading carefully because Zuma is like Samson and he will, in the end, go down with everyone else within the ruling party.

“Those who are in power today were with him in the 2017 Polokwane ANC national conference that outvoted Thabo Mbeki.

“He is still in the ANC and attends NEC [national executive committee] meetings whenever he wants.

“He is like a glue stuck on the sole of the ANC shoe and is still influential.

“Political godfathers, as seen in other parts of Africa, stick around even when they are no longer needed because they have not been given a meaningful responsibility,” said Dube.

He said most of those who attended Zuma solidarity gatherings outside court were from a poor and unemployed class, which included vagrants.

“This class of people who are sympathetic to him can help the former president’s fight-back campaign, based on the sorry state of our economy.

“As long as this court case continues, it makes him politically relevant,” added Dube.

South Africans, said Dube, were concerned that in the past 25 years of democracy under ANC rule, the party has adopted “a catch and release approach” to wrong-doing by its leaders.

Another independent analyst, Prince Mashele, endorsed a theory that Zuma’s strategy served to buy time.

In an interview with eNCA, Mashele said: “When this trial started, Zuma was sixty-something. He is now over 70 and if you add another decade, he will be eighty-something.

“His strategy is to delay the trial so that if he eventually gets convicted, he will just be too old or close to the grave.”

– brians@citizen.co.za

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