The uncertainty over the fate of Jacob Zuma before his surrender to the police less than an hour before the expiry of the order for his arrest, following his sentencing by the Constitutional Court, has cast doubt over the legitimacy of SA as a constitutional democracy.
The pertinent question in this regard is whether constitutional democracy in our beloved Republic was a “fanciful ideal or a tangible reality”, as framed by the HSRC. The fact that the apex court pronounced on the guilt of Zuma and sentenced him to 15 months in prison should have meant that the convicted contemnor should have been in orange overalls without fuss.
Instead, this constitutional delinquent was still enjoying his freedom until just40 minutes before the deadline for his incarceration, with his supporters threatening mayhem should their idol be taken into custody.
Before his conviction and sentence, Zuma had been boasting about how he was not scared of jail as he had served 10 years in Robben Island. In a spectacular about-turn, he has remembered that he was old and frail which he cited as his basis for the application of rescission of his sentence.
The continued freedom of Zuma would have made a mockery of the principle of equality before the law. With hordes of his unruly supporters, Zuma has undermined the rule of law through a threat of deadly force from his supporters.
Zuma has continued to peddle conspiracies about his persecution without offering any evidence.
Furthermore, the minister of police, Bheki Cele, and police commissioner, Khehla Sitole, who were tasked by the court to execute the arrest in the event he did not hand himself over, had told acting judge president Raymond Zondo that they would not be acting on the order until his legal challenges had been finalised.
In an unedifying spectacle of indecisiveness, Cele somersaulted while promising that he would not go down for contempt of an order of the Constitutional Court.
Meanwhile, the state attorney, Johan van Schalkwyk, who penned the letter on behalf of the minister and the commissioner, contradicted both when he said that the Constitutional Court was clear and that none of Zuma’s applications suspended the “workings of the order”.
“That order is unappealable and they are now trying to rescind it. Mr Zuma is trying to have a third bite of the cherry, because he was allowed ample opportunity to respond but elected not to do so.”
For his part, Cele has lamented the fact that the Constitutional Court has thrown him under the bus by allowing Zuma further wriggle room by granting his rescission application leading to the high court application for staying the order for Zuma’s arrest pending his Concourt application.
One is tempted to sympathise with the minister as the highest court in the land seems to have blinked in the face of a belligerent and incorrigible litigant.
What is clear is that Zuma has been and continues to be a thorn in the flesh of the South African judiciary and that failure to rein him in will threaten the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law. The alternative to this would be where politics trump over the law and the constitution.
This would signal a sad turn of events in the country as our constitutional democracy would be supplanted by arbitrary rule or rule by mob.
For the ANC, it would be apposite to state that the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost as it has always sought political solutions for Zuma’s legal problems. It is too late for the party to disown Zuma as he is its creation and an epitome of its rot.
Now that Zuma has completed his transition from president to prisoner, what remains is for the country to work on undoing his shameful legacy and restoring political stability and economic prosperity.
As for the ideal of constitutional democracy, this can only be retained with the removal of the ANC from power through the ballot box. The ANC gave us Zuma and it must also get its comeuppance as its role as leader of society has become untenable.
SA certainly deserves better than the ANC with its disastrous leadership of the country for almost three decades.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.