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Zuma's jail pardon sparks high fives from ANC, thumbs-up from Madonsela, rage from DA

Zuma's jail pardon sparks high fives from ANC, thumbs-up from Madonsela, rage from DA
Archive photo of Jacob Zuma's convoy arriving at his homestead of KwaNxamalala in Nkandla, when he was permitted to attend the funeral of his late brother Michael Zuma, who passed away in 2021. (Photo: Supplied)
Chris Makhaye
By Chris Makhaye
11 Aug 2023
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Some celebrated, some consented, but others have expressed dismay with a promise to challenge. These have been the deeply conflictual responses to the decision to give former president Jacob Zuma a get-out-of-jail-free card. He effectively served just two months of a 15-month sentence. But if the IFP has its way, former correctional services head Arthur Fraser may be next in the firing line.

The much-awaited decision on whether former president Jacob Zuma would return to prison to complete his 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court or be given special parole was always going to be a divisive, serious bone of contention.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Authorities ‘ready for any eventuality’ as Correctional Services boss to announce Zuma’s prison fate on Friday morning

The 81-year-old Zuma arrived at the Escourt Correctional Services at 6am on 11 August, 2023 — ostensibly to complete his sentence as the court ordered — only to be told that he must go back home. As a low-risk prisoner, he had instantly become a beneficiary of what amounts to a presidential pardon and his sentence, like those of more than 9,000 other prisoners, has been remitted.

Read more in Daily Maverick: No more prison time for Zuma after Ramaphosa rubber-stamps ‘remission’ – here is the reasoning

After serving two months of the 15-month sentence, Zuma was released on medical parole in 2021 by former correctional services head Arthur Fraser, whose decision was challenged in court by the opposition Democratic Alliance, Hellen Suzman Foundation and other NGOs and this challenge was upheld by the courts up to the Constitutional Court.

So, when the under duress and bespectacled Makgothi Thobakgale, the National Commissioner of Correctional Services, announced on Friday morning that Zuma had been re-admitted to the Escourt Correctional Services facility only to receive a special presidential pardon, social media, with everyone from ordinary people to politicians and analyst ventilating their views — ranging from supportive to outburst of outrage — on the issue.

Estcourt Correctional Centre, Jacob Zuma The Estcourt Correctional Centre where former president Jacob Zuma began serving his sentence for being in contempt of court in 2021. (Photo: Supplied)


Good times for some


Perhaps the most hilarious of the reactions came from Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, who posted several tweets as the announcement of her father’s fate was still underway. In one, she posts a video with her and her father embracing each other, with the former president singing sarcastically, “Free At Last” and both of them laughing it off.

Tebogo Khaas, a respected senior chartered accountant, a political and social commentator and businessman, said it was just like a walk in the park for Zuma.

“A special, drive-thru correctional services treatment for Jacob Zuma. How convinient!” he tweeted.

There might not have been a commission of inquiry into State Capture at all had Thuli Madonsela, in her capacity as Public Protector, not directed former president Jacob Zuma to establish such a commission as one of the remedial actions contained in her final report, “State of Capture”.

Thuli Madonsela, the former Public Protector, said she supports the decision to remit Zuma’s sentence on the grounds of his health and the concept of Ubuntu.


Political fallout


In an interview with eNCA, Glynnis Breytenbach, the Democratic Alliance’s shadow justice minister, called the whole thing a “charade” or “mockery of the whole justice system in South Africa”. She claimed the whole event was pre-planned not only to benefit Jacob Zuma and prevent him from going to jail but also to save the face of both the national commissioner, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola and President Cyril Ramaphosa, saying all of them would “wash their hands and say they have performed their duties and complied with the law”. 

She said President Cyril Ramaphosa has once again failed South Africans by choosing the party over the country.

“It [the decision] sets a very dangerous precedent for South Africans…It is not the end as Zuma is still to face a number of other legal challenges…..this is not something we are going to let lie,” she said, indicating that her party will study the entire process before taking a final decision on what to do next.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Wounds of injustice continue to fester in KZN on tense second anniversary of July riots

In July 2021, when Zuma was arrested at his home in Nkandla and imprisoned at the Estcourt Correctional Centre, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng erupted in an orgy of violence, looting and arson. This resulted in the deaths of more than 350 people and cost the economy more than R50-billion. Several people were arrested for allegedly coordinating and inciting the violence. Some are facing trial but the alleged ringleaders are still at large.

Herman Mashaba, leader of ActionSA, said his party also “rejected with contempt” what it termed President Ramaphosa’s “political solution” to Zuma’s incarceration conundrum.

“This move makes a mockery of the criminal justice system in South Africa by demonstrating once again that President Ramaphosa puts the ANC first and the country second. The criminal and civil justice system relies on the principle of ensuring that there are consequences for unlawful acts. [Former] President Zuma knowingly and deliberately defied our Apex Court, and publicly demonstrated his disdain for the legal system. Instead of affirming the supremacy of the Rule of Law in South Africa by ensuring that Zuma accounts for his actions, President Ramaphosa’s government has bent over backwards to allow him to evade the consequences of these actions.

“Today South Africa faces some of the highest murder and rape rates in the world, with the Thabo Bester matter being a case study in how dysfunctional our criminal justice system has become. As a party based on the Rule of Law, ActionSA will fight to restore this cornerstone of our Constitution and ensure that the justice system is an effective deterrent to unlawfulness,” Mashaba said in a statement.

Jacob Zuma convoy Archive photo of Jacob Zuma's convoy arriving at his homestead of KwaNxamalala in Nkandla, when he was permitted to attend the funeral of his late brother Michael Zuma, who passed away in 2021. (Photo: Supplied)


Decisions, decisions


Minister Lamola admitted that those who took the decision — including the correctional services and the Presidency — also considered the potential of unrest similar to July 2021 into cognisance during their deliberations.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC welcomed the decision, saying that the issue was a political hot potato that could have far-reaching implications.

“We are happy that finally this matter which divided society has been put behind us. We are alive to the reality that those opposed to the ANC and the enemy of the people of this country used this matter to divide the ANC and to cause social instability. On this day we reiterate our commitment to rebuild the unity and renew the soul and fibre of the ANC, restoring it to its founding values of dedication to servicing our people with honesty and dignity, respect and humility.

“We wish to express our revolutionary appreciation to the ANC structures and the people of this province for remaining calm over the past month.  We thank them for heeding our call, in terms of exercising restraint and for allowing leadership and those entrusted with a responsibility to manage this delicate matter to do so in line with the laws of the country,” said ANC KZN provincial secretary, Bheki Mtolo.

He added: “On the 13th July 2023, we stated that because we are in a Constitutional Democracy, the Department of Correctional Services had to be allowed to study the judgement and ventilate its decision publicly.  We further pointed that the freedom-loving South Africans of all racial groups, adopted among others, a clause in the charter that stipulated: “Imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance”.

The Inkatha Freedom Party said while it welcomed the release of Mr Zuma, it wanted an investigation focusing on how and why Fraser decided to defy the recommendations of the parole board and instead come to the determination that Zuma must be released prematurely.

Mkhuleko Hlengwa, IFP national spokesman, said: “While we welcome that the decision to release former President Zuma closes the door to more possible unrest, we wish to state clearly that it should not be considered a precedent. Lawlessness and violence — or the threat of violence — must never outweigh the need for justice, accountability, and consequences for one’s actions.

“It is our hope that we can now close this very painful chapter in our nation’s history — which culminated in the devastating and destructive riots and unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in 2021 — and move forward as a country. We, therefore, believe that further investigation of this irregular decision by the then-National Commissioner is needed,” Hlengwa said on behalf of the IFP.

Mpumelelo Zikalala, a Durban-based legal analyst, said despite the outcry over the decision, both the Department of Correctional Services, Minister Lamola and the President seemed to have covered all their legal tracks.

“The Commissioner can say I have complied with the Supreme Court of Appeal decision by accepting the offender into the correctional facility and said to the offender that you are now eligible for a special parole that was granted by the president. Legally, the parties can only challenge the rationality of the President in awarding the special remission at the time when Mr Zuma was supposed to resume his sentence,” Zikalala said. DM

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