As anxiety mounts across South Africa about what will happen next regarding the latest ruling of the Constitutional Court on former President Jacob Zuma, the leader of the EFF says the former head of state has served his sentence and it's enough.
Julius Malema also said Zuma is old and frail, and that should be considered.
His comments come after on Thursday the ConCourt dismissed an application by the Department of Correctional Services, which wanted to appeal the ruling that effectively sent former president Jacob Zuma back to prison to finish his sentence.
In a ruling on Thursday afternoon, the highest court in the land dismissed the department's main application. It also dismissed the application to intervene, which was made by Zuma’s legal team.
It said both had no prospects of success, effectively sending Zuma back to jail without giving timelines for when that should happen.
Commenting on the possibility of Zuma returning to jail, Malema appears to imply that President Cyril Ramaphosa must grant Zuma a presidential pardon.
YouTube link to the President, CiC Julius Malema's interaction with Editors.https://t.co/KMXrqGrpA0
— TakaSyo (@bigkoostar) July 14, 2023
Malema was interacting with editors in what was called a frank dialogue, chaired by JJ Tabane of eNCA.
He said before the July 2021 unrest, he met with Ramaphosa and told him that whatever happened, he should consider giving Zuma a presidential pardon.
“Again, we don’t know what is going to be the decision of the Department of Correctional Services and (regarding sending Zuma back to jail).
“But the president’s hands are not tied, that’s what we want to remind him of, we have reached a point where we must choose peace over all these types of things we are talking about.
“To say no one is above the law and all that, Zuma has served, it’s enough. Why do you still want to burn this country after a person has served? He has served, it’s enough,” he said, adding that when you are on parole it does not mean that you are free.
How I wish Julius Malema was already the President, we need this leadership. pic.twitter.com/6vXDn97N3G
— m a s h è s h a 💨 (@_mashesha) July 14, 2023
Malema insisted that a presidential pardon would help calm down the situation.
“Presidential pardon is proper, we must try and mitigate a situation where we avoid violence. We have seen 350 to 400 people Africans died in July.
"We don't want a repeat of that; we don't and if the president can intervene in the best interest of the country that's good because he is not using the presidential pardon to pardon his auditor or his own lawyer, it's not personal," Malema said when pressed about the matter.
Meanwhile, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has reacted to the ruling, saying it is “engaging” with Luthuli House regarding the latest ConCourt judgment on former president Jacob Zuma. It appealed for “maximum restraint”.
In a statement on Friday, the party said: “Critically, hindsight is always the best teacher. In this regard, we believe that 2021 July Unrest has lessons of equal significance for all arms of the state, the ANC, opposition political parties, private sector, the media and society at large.”
It added that it is engaging with ANC Luthuli House on this matter, and that "during this period we are also reaching out to all sectors of society, taking counsel and guidance on our shortcomings".
“This will form the basis for us to make amends. Let us all exercise maximum restraint and ensure that the rule of law prevails whilst these consultations are under way. No amount of anger amongst our people should lead to incidents of violence, unrest and destruction of property,” it said.
The party said violence will reverse all the gains that have been made in rebuilding the economy that was battered by looting and violence in July 2021.
“These will reverse the gains we are making in rebuilding our economy. We need to lift thousands of people out of abject poverty and conditions of squalor. We must not fall into the trap of agents provocateurs who have emerged from the shadows and landed on the front pages of national papers using this Constitutional Court judgment. They want to see this country going up in flames,” the statement read.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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