FORMER president Jacob Zuma told a press conference, at his Nkandla home on Sunday night, that the decision by the Concourt to jail him without a trial, the decision by the ANC to bar its suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule from addressing its members, and the curfew imposed to curb Covid-19, were signs that the country had regressed to apartheid era tactics.
Zuma is currently fighting his 15-month sentence for contempt of court, when he refused to appear before the Zondo Commission. He repeated his claims that he is not afraid of going to jail because of his beliefs.
Zuma has applied to the Constitutional Court to rescind its judgment, with the matter expected to be heard on July 12, and his application to the Pietermaritzburg High Court – to stay the execution of his arrest and incarceration – will be heard on July 6.
Zuma attacked the current government, saying they are behaving like the apartheid government and imposing almost similar laws.
He claimed that, albeit using different strategies, there are signs that there country is already under apartheid-like conditions.
Zuma said Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who chairs the State Capture Inquiry, was biased against him.
At the late night presser, Zuma's lawyer advocate Dali Mpofu SC said, as they head to the Pietermaritzburg high court on Tuesday to have his warrant of arrest stayed, the minister of police and some government departments cited in the papers, will not be opposing the matter.
However, according to Mpofu, the Zondo Commission and the Helen Suzman Foundation will oppose the application.
Earlier on Sunday, while addressing his supporters outside his Nkandla home, Zuma again made the allegation of Zondo's bias against him.
Zondo’s refusal to recuse himself led him to conclude that Zondo was sent to deal with him, Zuma said.
“His refusal makes me conclude that he has a mission against me, why he is so determined to chair it (the commission),” he said while speaking in Zulu, sometimes using idioms.
He further claimed that Zondo once admitted that the reason why he was the only judge chairing the commission, instead of two, was because he never wanted someone to have a different view in the final report.
"My former lawyer Sikhakhane once asked him about that, he confessed that it was because when he has to prepare the final report, he does not want a dissenting voice, that is how it is," Zuma said, much to the excitement of his supporters.
Before Zuma's address, there was a verbal showdown between supporters, when about 40 police officers, in Hyundai H1 and double-cab vehicles, closed the road leading to Zuma's home. The police battalion was led by KZN provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Upon closing the road, causing the traffic to gridlock, there was a verbal showdown.
When the other group of supporters outside Zuma's home heard about this, they marched to the cordon line "to clear the way for the blocked comrades".
However, after speaking to Zuma supporters led by Bishop Vusi Dube, police cleared the way. Dube was heard shouting "they must leave, the people can monitor themselves".
The police then cleared the road, allowing the supporters to pass through. The work of controlling the traffic was left to MK veterans.