Ahead of being driven off from his Nkandla homestead on Wednesday night, former president Jacob Zuma informed “pained” leaders of his support group that he was taking his lawyers’ advice to report to prison to serve his jail sentence.
Among those that Zuma informed of his decision to heed his lawyers’ advice were Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) spokesperson Carl Niehaus and KwaZulu-Natal chairperson for the radical economic transformation (RET) forces, Nkosentsha Shezi, who were among those who had camped at his homestead to “protect” him against any arrest.
Zuma’s last-minute decision came as police prepared to pounce on him after he defied the order of the Constitutional Court directing him to hand himself over on Sunday to serve his 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court.
Shezi on Thursday told Sowetan that Zuma had been locked in discussions with his lawyers, leaders of the MKMVA and the RET forces who were at his homestead.
He said at the time Zuma had also been waiting for a Constitutional Court response to the letter his lawyers had sent, asking the apex court to stay his arrest until the finalisation of his pending court matters.
Shezi, who said he was among those called in by Zuma before he left his homestead, described the former president’s decision as informed by advice he received from his lawyers.
“He was mostly speaking with his legal advisers, who eventually advised him to take the route he took. He called us in, as those who backed his refusal to hand himself in, and told us that he had decided to go instead of waiting for the arrest,” Shezi said.
Though Shezi refused to divulge intimate details of the conversation Zuma had with them, he said it was clear that the former president had already made up his mind.
“When he made up his mind in the manner that he did it was painful and regrettable but it was a decision that we had to respect,” Shezi said.
At 11.15pm on Wednesday night, Zuma’s presidential VIP protection motorcade sped off from Nkandla, to deliver the former president to start serving out his sentence as the deadline for police commissioner Gen Kehla Sitole and minister Bheki Cele to enforce the court’s order loomed.
Shezi said while Zuma’s support groups had other plans, they were forced to accept that the former president had changed his mind.
“We had to support him because his family supported him and his decision and we were there to support him not to oppose him. We had to agree. I was there with him and his family as we saw him off, shook his hand and gave him hugs,” he said.
Zuma’s legal troubles and his failed attempts to evade jail had emanated from his defiance of the ConCourt, which had directed him to attend the Zondo commission and testify to state capture allegations.
Shezi said Zuma had been “deliberately stretching the limits and trying to expose the systems of the judiciary of this country” before he decided to submit at the eleventh hour.
MKMVA president Kebby Maphatsoe said the association would be forced to pack up and leave Nkandla where the association’s members had been camping for four months.
“It is a blow to us, but we respect his decision. We have no choice now but to tell our members there to demobilise and go back to their branches,” said Maphatsoe.
Civil society organisations, opposition political parties and the ANC welcomed Zuma’s decision to report to prison, with the governing party describing it as a “brave and hard decision to make”.
Criminal law expert James Grant said parole was the only practical avenue for Zuma to escape serving a full sentence, which could result in him serving no more than four months, a quarter of his 15-month sentence, if his application was successful.
Grant cautioned, however, that Zuma’s parole could hinge on a reformed attitude towards the apex court.
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