DURBAN - PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa is facing mounting pressure from the public, as well as from prominent figures, to pardon former president Jacob Zuma, who is jailed at Estcourt Correctional Centre.
On Sunday, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala said he was dealing with the matter of getting Zuma released from prison.
He said once the matter has been processed by the relevant authorities, the public would be informed of the decision.
Zikalala called for calm and urged the people of KwaZulu-Natal to adhere to the rule of law and to Covid-19 regulations. Zikalala’s comments came after a Twitter user demanded the premier call President Cyril Ramaphosa to tell him to release Zuma, failing which, “he (Zikalala) would have to be removed because that would show, he is not a leader”.
Zikalala responded: “We have reported to the national leadership.” Former president Thabo Mbeki was quoted in a YouTube video as saying that protecting an advance to peace was more important than locking up a person.
“That principle of ‘I am very glad, I have locked him, I have won a case’ – at what price? Hundreds of thousands of people (that are) dead. And you think you are a leader? You are not,” he said.
Zuma’s son Duduzane said he would stop at nothing to get his father out of jail.
“Jacob Zuma is my father, I love him to bits and he shouldn’t be in prison. And we are going to fight to get him out. It’s no joke. Free JZ,” Zuma jr said.
He added that it was unfair for his father to be seated “in a cold prison cell at the age of 79 and his rights to a free trial were completely ignored”.
“You have tried to kill him. You forced him to resign, which he did. He is minding his own business and you continue hounding him. You have charged him, you haven’t followed the due processes as much as you claim you have,” Zuma jr said.
He said there were real issues which required attention, other than arresting one man.
“We are not going to be distracted from what needs to be done. We all need to be a part of the solution. The problem at hand is not Covid-19. The problem at hand is poverty, unemployment and the high rate of crime,” he said.
He raised the irony of those in power hiding behind the police force and the defence force, which were underpaid by the government.
“People think they are incarcerating one man for whatever reason. But what we need to understand is, that man carries the hopes, aspirations and dreams of millions of people in this country,” said Zuma jr.
He added that his father was an embodiment of what it meant to come from nothing and then become something.
“You are locking up someone that has contributed, to the best of his ability, to get things to be where they are in this country,” said Zuma jr.
BLF leader Andile Mngxitama has called for a national shutdown until Zuma was given an “unconditional and immediate release”.
Mngxitama also called for Ramaphosa’s and Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s resignations.
“Only those who were serious about revolutionary change and confronting the real enemy, know that one ought to defend Zuma and expose the enemy – the white monopoly capital and its agents,” he claimed.
“Zuma is our symbol against the enemy. He took a stand. That’s why he had to leave the office, that’s why he was jailed. They won’t stop there because they don’t trust that he won’t raise the masses against them,” said Mngxitama.
For information about President Ramaphosa’s address last night, go to www.iol.co.za
Daily News