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Former president Jacob Zuma, who has until Sunday to hand himself over to law enforcement authorities, has launched a last-ditch effort to stay out of prison.
Zuma, who had until now played his cards close to his chest, finally showed his hand on Friday when he filed an application with the Constitutional Court to rescind its judgment condemning him to 15 months in prison.
The embattled former president also instituted parallel proceedings as he filed papers with the Pietermaritzburg High Court challenging “the constitutionality of the criminal procedure insofar as it fails or omits to cater for or afford the normal fair trail rights to persons facing imprisonment” through proceedings at the apex court.
In what has been described by some legal and political experts as “the last kicks of a dying horse”, Zuma threw his last legal dice, asking the Constitutional Court to review its own decision.
Watch | Police roadblocks setup near Nkandla after Zuma supporters fire gunshotsHe argued in his 34-page court application that imprisoning him would not serve any constitutional value, instead it could well be a death sentence for him at his advanced age, as his health was ailing.
“I approach the honourable Constitutional Court fully cognisant of the passionate, charged and strong expression of judicial disdain for my apparent defiance … The tone in which the court conveyed its judicial exasperation and displeasure at my non compliance with its orders in relation to my appearance at the commission of inquiry [into state capture] would ordinarily discourage any litigant from seeking the same court to reconsider, vary and rescind it’s orders.
“I, however, do trust that it will be able to dig from the depth of its judicial being, to extract the requisite calmness and restraint, and to adjudicate my application solely based on its legal merits,” reads Zuma application.
He said at 79, he was old and required “regular and intense therapy” to remain in good health and sending him to jail could may well be a death sentence.
“Imprisonment will not serve any constitutional value but may be a political statement of exemplary punishment which does nothing to affirm the court as the supreme custodian of our constitutional rights. As already indicated by the premature celebrations of newfound upholders of the rule of law, it may also satisfy the vengeful appetites of my political foes,” he argues in the papers.
Zuma alleged that the court panel that sentenced him included Judge Dhaya Pillay, formally with the Pietermaritzburg High Court, stressing that her presence contaminated the proceedings as Pillay had proven to be his adversary, rather than an officer of the law.
He also claimed the reason he decided not to file opposing papers was because he had no money as his finances had been depleted due to numerous pending court cases since he left office in February 2018.
“From the time I left the office of the president, I have faced a tremendous amount of financial pressure. The Nkandla judgment of the Constitutional Court to all other court cases demanded extreme financial resources from me. State funding for my criminal trial which the state had agreed to pay was stopped and the relevant agreements set aside in court.
“Other than the cost orders in this judgment, I face punitive cost orders in about 12 judgments amounting to more than R20 million. As a consequence of the financial hardships that I was facing, I decided that I would only litigate matters where it was absolutely necessary for me to do so.
“I did not have the extravagant funds to engage lawyers to commit fully to the urgent applications of the commission, especially those which I honestly, but clearly mistakenly, believed to be wholly unmeritorious,” he argued.
The embattled Zuma will be filing another application on Tuesday with the high court challenging the constitutionality of his sentencing without being afforded a trial.
Meanwhile, the Jacob Zuma Foundation announced that Zuma will be “addressing the nation” on Sunday afternoon.
The escalating tensions at Zuma’s Nkandla homestead in northern KwaZulu-Natal has resulted in ANC postponing this weekend’s three-day national executive committee (NEC) meeting.
Deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte announce on Friday that senior leaders were being sent to Nkandla to manage the deteriorating situation.
The NEC delegation would include Jeff Radebe, Fikile Mbalula, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Thabang Makwetla, Tony Yengeni, Lindiwe Sisulu, Zweli Mkhize, Thoko Didiza, Bheki Cele and Ayanda Dlodlo, among others. They would work with the provincial ANC leadership led by chairperson Sihle Zikalala.
They were expected to arrive in Nkandla on Saturday.
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