Quote of the week
Mr Zuma is no ordinary litigant. He is the former President of the Republic, who remains a public figure and continues to wield significant political influence, while acting as an example to his supporters… He has a great deal of power to incite others to similarly defy court orders because his actions and any consequences, or lack thereof, are being closely observed by the public. If his conduct is met with impunity, he will do significant damage to the rule of law. As this Court noted in Mamabolo, “[n]o one familiar with our history can be unaware of the very special need to preserve the integrity of the rule of law”. Mr Zuma is subject to the laws of the Republic. No person enjoys exclusion or exemption from the sovereignty of our laws… It would be antithetical to the value of accountability if those who once held high office are not bound by the law.
Secretary of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State v Zuma and Others (CCT 52/21) [2021] ZACC 18
As for President Zuma, I doubt he has “dealt” with Malema the way the papers have been suggesting. We will see. Durban exposed his weaknesses rather than strengths. Speaking in code to an organisation you supposedly run doesn’t sound like leadership to me and nothing he says is going to happen ever seems to happen. Remember those “street committees” ANC branches were going to form after Polokwane to protect us all? The one thing Zuma cannot live with is certainty. The moment he supports a policy position he opens himself up to attack from factions who don’t. It’s why he announced yesterday he was going to head an investigation into everything in the economy — it means there’s to be no certainty about anything except the fact that he doesn’t have a position on anything. It’ll always be “under investigation”. – Peter Bruce in Business Day
