Johannesburg - Former ANC spokesperson Carl Niehaus has vowed to defend former president Jacob Zuma as calls for him to be returned to the Estcourt prison mount, with the DA giving correctional services until Friday to jail Zuma following this Monday’s ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
The ruling upheld the Pretoria High Court’s December 2021 ruling, reviewing and setting aside former correctional services commissioner Arthur Fraser’s decision to grant Zuma medical parole.
The matter has since been referred to current correctional services commissioner Makgothi Thobakagale to decide whether Zuma’s time spent on medical parole should count towards his 15-month term, which ended last month.
The DA has since instructed its lawyers to ensure that the former president returns to the Estcourt facility no later than the end of business on Friday, even though the SCA ruling did not make a determination.
Correctional services said it will study this ruling before making a decision whether to appeal against this judgment by the SCA.
However, Niehaus has slammed the DA for deliberately misrepresenting the findings of the SCA.
“The SCA has granted president Zuma the judgment, which was wrong in its interpretation that the advisory panel decision was compulsory and final. It also ruled that the parole that the president served on medical parole must be taken into account by the Department of Correctional Services.
“So for all the practical purposes, this does not change anything about president Zuma’s current situation, and the Department of Correctional Services has released him. He has served his sentence because the medical parole term served must be taken into consideration. Therefore, he is a free man,” Niehaus said.
Niehaus said it was mischievous of the DA to want to misrepresent the facts of the ruling.
Even though Niehaus does not fear another Zuma jailing, he said the unrest of July 2021 should never have happened, adding that it was merely an organic and not a co-ordinated response to a series of injustices that ordinary people have suffered under the current regime.
However, the leader of Black First Land First, Andile Mngxitama said people have lost their innocence since last year’s unrest and it will take less effort to trigger a similar situation.
“People have lost their innocence. The next upheaval shall be bigger and better organised. Should he be jailed again? The socio-economic conditions of the people are not improving, and soon another trigger factor shall strike,” Mngxitama said.
Recently, political analysts such as Professor Sipho Seepe have warned against jailing Zuma again. Even the EFF reacted with fury to the possible jailing of the former president, with EFF spokesperson Sinawo Tambo saying this would not achieve any rehabilitation purpose.
“I am not sure that people will immediately resort to the kind of social unrest we have witnessed. The day that happens, the July unrests will be like a picnic,” Seepe told Independent Media in a recent interview.
The Star