Former president Jacob Zuma supports his son Duduzane at the Randburg Magistrates Court, where he is facing charges of culpable homicide on January 24, 2019 in Randburg, South Africa. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Alon Skuy) 
Jacob Zuma’s petulant and cowardly bolt from testifying at the State Capture Inquiry on Thursday after Deputy Judge President Raymond Zondo’s ruling that he would not recuse himself as chair has revealed the depth of the former president’s contempt for the Constitution, the law and South African citizens.
For a man who has claimed to be a victim of all manner of conspiracies and political dark arts, he has spent a fortune avoiding ever having to answer to the serious – if not treasonous – allegations that have been levelled at him by a long list of witnesses who have come forward.
Zuma’s open defiance of the rule of law cannot be countenanced and the only response left now is for the recalcitrant former head of state to be arrested for contempt.
And while the South African law makes clear provision for this, our authorities must finally grow a spine to call Zuma’s bluff, slap him in handcuffs and drag him off to jail.
It is the only way to halt the ongoing corrosive effect of Zuma and his ragtag brigade of Radical Economic Transformation thugs and thieves, precious few of whom are slowly being rounded up by the National Prosecuting Authority.
For two days, Zuma’s legal representative, Muzi Sikhakhane, peppered his argument with nuggets of emotional blackmail suggesting that if Deputy Chief Raymond Zondo did not rule in Zuma’s favour he would have to live with the reputational consequences... whatever that means.
Zuma has now escalated his attack on Zondo by lodging a complaint with the Judicial Service Commission. It is yet another cowardly move to avoid taking responsibility for the mess into which he has plunged South Africa.
For South Africa to have a chance of getting back to normality, Zuma and his cohorts, including former ministers in his Cabinet like Bathabile Dlamini and Malusi Gigaba, who have been declared liars by the courts, must be dealt with. Their lying, cheating and stealing have been a pattern that best describes Zuma’s ruinous presidency.
Laughing and lying in the face of allegations of massive fraud and corruption that has bankrupted South Africa and corroded state institutions has become a natural habit for those implicated in State Capture.
As Lawson Naidoo of the Council for the Advancement of the Constitution (Casac) correctly pointed out, Zuma’s defiance “is a grave matter”.
As the Constitutional Court reminded South Africa in its watershed Nkandla judgment in 2016, said Naidoo, the president is a “Constitutional Being” with a weighty responsibility to uphold and protect the Constitution.
“We believe that Mr Zuma’s responsibility to uphold the rule of law did not end with his resignation from office. By refusing to accept the authority of the Commission, which he himself established, Mr Zuma also sends out a very unfortunate message: that it is possible to defy due process and thereby evade accountability,” said Naidoo.
Zuma, as we have all known, never intended to appear or give evidence before the commission and his shameful and petulant actions on Thursday are a pathetic attempt to escape accountability.
Naidoo is correct when he asserts that “no less than the integrity of the Commission and the rule of law is at stake. This is a very serious moment for South Africa’s constitutional democracy.”
We cannot agree more.
The summons that was legally issued for Zuma to appear before the commission and which he has wilfully defied must result in the full might of the law being brought finally on a man who has remained untouched for so long.
Zuma lives a charmed life while the rest of South Africa suffers the consequences of his reckless non-leadership. It is time for him to face the music. He may indeed believe he is above the law. It is upon all of us to prove him wrong. DM