Former President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane has vociferously defended his father following his incarceration at the Estcourt Correctional Centre, saying that his father should not be behind bars and that he was going to fight to get him out.
In a video shared on the Instagram page of Duduzane Zuma’s close associate Winston Innes, Duduzane said that those behind the former head of state’s imprisonment thought they were incarcerating one man for whatever reason they were giving to the public.
He goes on to say that it needs to be understood that his father carries the hopes, aspirations and dreams of millions of people in South Africa.
“You think you’re locking up an individual that is a being on his own, that’s not the case. You’re locking up someone that carries a light for people, you’re locking up someone that is the embodiment of what coming from nothing and becoming somebody in life is about.
“You’re locking up someone that’s contributed to the best of his abilities to get things to where they are in this country, him and there’s a whole host of other people that have done so before. He’s 79 year-old, he’s going nowhere, he’s an old man,” Duduzane said.
He lamented that his father had been hounded throughout his whole political career while he’s also been poisoned on multiple occasions.
“You’ve tried to kill him and you’ve forced him to resign, which he did, he’s minding his own business and you continue hounding him. You’ve charged him but you haven’t followed the due processes as much as you claim that you have when it comes to the judiciary, unfortunately,” Duduzane said.
He goes on to say that Zuma has not had the right to defend himself, his right to silence and that his rights to a fair trial had been completely ignored and that he has now found himself currently sitting in a prison cell at his advanced age of 79.
“He’s 79 years old guys, stop playing games. There’s more happening in this country than locking up one man that you believe is the root course of all these issues, that’s not the case, stop lying to people and focus on the real issues.
“We’re not here to distract from what needs to be done, we’re not here to distract from the challenges we face today. We all need to band together, we all need to be a part of the solution,” said Duduzane.
In the five-minute long video, the 37 year-old Duduzane says that for South Africans the problem was not Covid-19, but rather poverty, unemployment and the high levels of crimes caused by the conditions of poverty and unemployment.
“Now you’re hiding behind the police force, but that very same police force and defence force are members of our communities. You’re turning ordinary society into criminals, you’re forcing people to go and take because they don’t have.
“The next step is you’re going to force law enforcement agents and defence force members to become criminals as well, why? They’re underpaid, you’re not paying well and expect them to come and deal with us and yet these people are the people that come home and break bread with us. Don’t do that, don’t place us in a situation where you leave us no choice but to do what we need to do, that goes for the whole society,” said Zuma
Political Bureau