Zuma judgement: Why you should never give the judiciary the middle finger
Photo credit: Flickr/ European External Action Service
“Never before has the authority and legitimacy of Constitutional Court been subjected to the kind of attacks that Mr. Zuma has launched against it and against its members. Never before has the judicial process been so threatened,” read what is certainly the most important judgment since the dawn of democracy in South Africa.
It has been 12 years since Jacob Zuma came to power in South Africa. For seven years he ruled over party operatives who - taking their cue from him - became ever-increasingly corrupt and used state organs for their own personal enrichment whilst treating the law with impunity. With breathtaking arrogance and a growing sense of entitlement billions of Rand were stolen whilst those involved seemed immune to prosecution.
Today, it all came to a thundering halt.
In a scathing judgement seven out of the nine constitutional court justices ruled that Mr. (no mention of former president) Zuma, will go to jail for 15 months in five days’ time.
Let’s just briefly remind ourselves of the history of the case. In January 2018, shortly after his defeat to Cyril Ramaphosa at the ANC’s Nasrec conference, then-President Zuma was convinced by party operatives to announce the formation of the Zondo Commission to "investigate allegations of state capture, corruption, fraud and other allegations in the public sector including organs of state". He appointed Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo as the head of the Commission.
“Never before has the authority and legitimacy of Constitutional Court been subjected to the kind of attacks that Mr. Zuma has launched against it and against its members.”
Months later, after many damning revelations and one round of questioning, Jacob Zuma was no longer keen to answer further questions at the Commission. He insulted the Chief Justice, accusing him of bias, among other things, and after defying a subpoena to appear at the Commission, the Constitutional Court was asked to compel him to do so.
In January 2021 the ConCourt ordered Zuma to appear at the Commission. In response, Zuma accused the court of being politically biased. The Commission issued another subpoena for him to appear in February. Zuma declined, declaring that: “I would rather go to jail than give evidence.”
“Ok,” said Justice Kampele and 6 other judges, “Off you go then”. (My words not theirs).
And so, Jacob Zuma has learnt what any gangster in the Cape Flats could have told him: It’s never a good idea to give the judge(s) the middle finger!”
Of course, the implications of this judgement go far beyond Jacob Zuma. It established in no uncertain terms that no one – not even former presidents – are above the law. In doing so ConCourt judges sent a powerful message and warning to many political operatives who have increasingly been questioning the authority of the judiciary. They have also confirmed that South Africa is a Constitutional state and not a banana republic – as so many began to fear during the Zuma years.
In doing so they have safe guarded our country since the independence and authority of the judiciary is the only thing that stands between our hard-fought for democracy and autocracy and chaos.
The question is what happens now. Zuma’s newly appointed spokesperson, Jimmy Manyi, immediately accused the majority judges of unconstitutional judgements motivated by a “gatvolness” with Zuma. He went so far as saying that we now have a constitutional crisis. This is not a surprising narrative, but will not serve Zuma well.
He also issued a thinly-veiled threat, saying “we will have to see what will happen in the country”. I have no doubt that we will see some protests and a possible stand-off with the MKVA members in Nkandla. However, despite what Jacob Zuma and his group of unwise advisors would like to believe, there will be no appetite amongst the vast majority of citizens, nor even ANC members to join any protest actions. It is therefore up to the state to manage any protests firmly and without any hesitation.
Jacob Zuma’s advanced age, the fact that it is winter, his health problems, and the pandemic have already been put forward in media interviews as a reason for him not to go to jail.