Africa-Press – South-Africa. Durban – This week former president Jacob Zuma showed the country yet again that he’s ready to defy a Constitutional Court ruling which compelled him to appear before the Zondo commission and do jail time as a result.
On Monday a defiant Zuma held his long-awaited meeting with the Top Six of the ruling party which was led by party president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
Zuma appears to have managed to stick to his decision to defy the court and the commission.
The ruling party’s secretary-general, Ace Magashule, called an impromptu press conference to announce what transpired.
He said the ANC’s leadership agreed that the Constitution and the country’s Bill of Rights were important and should be respected by everyone concerned.
He then said “law-abiding citizen” Zuma made an “extensive” input detailing with what led him to decide to defy the commission.
Later Magashule said Zuma detailed “that he has been subjected to unfair persecution and prosecution for over two decades”.
Apparently, that is related to his ongoing corruption trial and allegations that the state capture commission was formed purely to target him.
Magashule said the ANC’s leadership agreed with Zuma that he should be given time to consult with his lawyers regarding his defiant stance.
“The Top 6 agreed that we should, we have heard Zuma, we have engaged, we are very happy about the engagements, the discussions and we are all agreed that we should build the unity of South Africans, the unity of our structures, all of us must unite, build the ANC and continue respecting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
While the official line, as promptly communicated by Magashule on the day was that Zuma would be given time to work with his lawyers to deal with the matters, other sources said Zuma told the party leadership he was ready to do jail time for his defiance.
He allegedly told them that he felt that some in the ruling party were aiding his persecutors and requested that they give him space to deal with the matter in his own way.
On the same day, Zuma and his lawyers were expected to file their responding papers to a request made by the Zondo Commission to the Constitutional Court to jail him for two years for defying two summons issued in January and mid-February this year.
The papers would have helped the court to have his version before reaching a decision.
Zuma and his lawyers missed that deadline, giving a signal that he won’t oppose the request to jail him for two years.
On Friday Zuma met with the national executive committee of the ANC Women’s League which said the meeting in Nkandla would aim to close the gap between the party and its former leaders.
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Political Bureau
