WATCH: March to free Zuma a peaceful protest
A group of about 50 people gathered at the ZCBF Community Park and proceeded to the open space adjacent to the City of uMhlathuze municipal offices.
A peaceful protest to demand that former President Jacob Zuma be released with immediate effect and committed to house arrest got under way in Richards Bay on Wednesday.
Despite initial delays, a group of about 50 people gathered at the ZCBF Community Park and proceeded to the open space adjacent to the City of uMhlathuze municipal offices.
The area was flanked by heavy law enforcement presence including the deployment of SANDF, police and traffic officials, who kept a close watch of activities across the CBD.
Members of the ANC Musa Dladla region handed over a memorandum of demands to a representative from the Department of Justice and requested that the matter be escalated to the Minister of Justice and the Office of the President.
Disturbed by the ‘ongoing onslaught of the Constitution in the pursuit of Jacob Zuma’, the peaceful protesters called on the department to uphold the Constitution and protect the rights of all citizens, especially those who cannot protect themselves from the ‘iron fist of the current state’.
Joining in the local #FreeJacobZuma movement, Luyanda Msane from Musa Dladla region said the court seemed bent on punishing President Jacob Zuma to the detriment of all South Africans.
‘All South Africans must be protected by the same Constitution many were massacred for.’
‘We are protesting because of our frustration by your department’s failure to uphold and protect the Constitution ensuring equitable access to justice for all.
‘We demand the following to be considered immediately and put into action within seven days.’
According to the memorandum, Jacob Zuma’s experience was a ‘scary mirror in which citizens could see how they would be treated by state institutions in the near future’.
The movement has challenged the Department of Justice to live up to its mission to provide transparent, responsive and accountable justice for all that is accessible to all equitably.
