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.
Readers of this Blog have been arguing about being an “African” and referred to President Thabo Mbeki’s very famous and moving speech he made in the late 1990’s called “I am an African”. I post it here also for those who yearn for the days when we could all be so proud of our President, before HIV/AIDS, “no crisis” Zimbabwe, the “ultra left”, Vusi Pikoli and Jackie Selebi, sullied his reputation. Those were the days when our President gave me tears in my eyes for all the right reasons.
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