Zuma defies Constitutional Court ruling

Former South African President Jacob Zuma, on Monday, served notice that he will defy a Constitutional Court order and will not cooperate with the State Capture Commission.
In a statement received by PANA, he said “it is clear that the laws of this country are politicised even at the highest court in the land”.
The court last week ordered him to appear before the commission following his dramatic walk-out late last year.
Commission head, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, approached the court on an urgent basis in a bid to force the former president to comply with its summonses and answer questions on his implication in allegations of corruption.
In a further significant ruling, the court ruled that Zuma had no right to remain silent when he appears before the commission because “this right is available to arrested and accused persons and not to witnesses”.
Zuma said he does not fear being arrested, convicted or incarcerated.
“I joined the struggle against the racist apartheid government and the unjust oppression of black people by whites in the country at a very young age. As a result, I was sentenced in December 1963 to serve 10 years on Robben Island at the age of 21. In all the years of struggle, I had never imagined that there would come a time when a democratic government in South Africa built on Constitutional values would behave exactly like the apartheid government in creating legal processes designed to target specific individuals in society.”
He said he is now left with no other alternative but to be defiant against injustice.
“I am again prepared to go to prison to defend the Constitutional rights that I personally fought for and to serve whatever sentence that this democratically elected government deems appropriate as part of the special and different laws for Zuma agenda,” he added.
In a separate development, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg last week dismissed French arms company Thales’ bid to challenge the corruption charge it faces along with former president Zuma.
The outcome means the major high-profile graft trial against Zuma could begin as soon as April.
The prosecution claims Thales agreed to pay Zuma an annual US$30,000 bribe, in exchange for his “political protection” from any potential investigation of South Africa’s massive arms procurement programme in the 1990s.
Thales secured a $190 million contract to provide four navy frigates to South Africa in 1997.