In divisive ex-president鈥檚 prison sentence, South Africans see a reckoning
| Johannesburg
When then-President Nelson Mandela inaugurated South Africa鈥檚 highest court in February 1995, he issued a stern warning to its justices.
鈥淧eople come and go. Customs, fashions, and preferences change. Yet the web of fundamental rights and justice which a nation proclaims must not be broken,鈥� at the opening of the Constitutional Court. 鈥淚t is the task of this court to ensure that the values of freedom and equality which underlie our 鈥� constitution are nurtured and protected so that they may endure.鈥�
Twenty-six years later, on a bright winter鈥檚 day in Johannesburg, the country watched as that same court faced a fundamental reckoning over those values. Would it order the arrest of the country鈥檚 former President Jacob Zuma, who had repeatedly shrugged off a government corruption inquiry in which he was heavily implicated? Or would it let Mr. Zuma, a former liberation fighter with a wide following among the country鈥檚 poor and marginalized people, off the hook?
Why We Wrote This
High-level corruption has shaken many South Africans鈥� faith in their government. In the first sentencing of a former president, many see an affirmation that no one is above the law 鈥� an affirmation of equality, the cornerstone of the new South Africa.
The court was unequivocal.
鈥淣ever before has this Court鈥檚 authority and legitimacy been subjected to the kinds of attacks that Mr. Zuma has elected to launch against it and its members,鈥� acting Deputy Chief Justice Sisi Khampepe said Tuesday, reading from the judgment to a courtroom kept nearly empty by a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. 鈥淗is attempts to evoke public sympathy through unfounded allegations fly in the face of reason and are an insult to constitutional dispensation for which so many men and women fought and lost their lives.鈥�
Mr. Zuma鈥檚 time was up, she said. The former president, who didn鈥檛 attend the hearing, has five days to turn himself in and begin 15 months in jail.
Never before has a former South African head of state been sentenced, and for many, that historic judgment symbolizes that no one here, however powerful, is above the law.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about accountability, because when you鈥檙e a government official you鈥檙e accountable to the people of the country,鈥� says Shenilla Mohamed, executive director of Amnesty International South Africa. 鈥淭he judgment has given hope to the people of South Africa that justice will be served and the people responsible will not escape the net of the law.鈥�
For Mr. Zuma鈥檚 many supporters, however, the decision reads differently. This is scapegoating, they say, a smokescreen to deflect attention from the real issues the young country faces: rampant poverty, inequality, and widespread government mismanagement that has left many of its public services broken and underfunded.聽
鈥淗e is unjustly being targetted,鈥� wrote , an organization of former liberation fighters that has Mr. Zuma from arrest. 鈥淗e was one of the most prominent liberation fighters and ANC political leaders, who gave his all for our current National Constitution to be adopted, and he cannot allow that the very same constitution is being abused,鈥� the group said in a statement.
Mr. Zuma has long been a symbolic figure in South African politics. A guerrilla fighter in the country鈥檚 liberation movement, he never formally attended school. Where the presidents who preceded him, Mr. Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, spoke crisp, formal English and courted the country鈥檚 white elite, Mr. Zuma preferred to speak in Zulu and had no qualms about the fact that his people were the country鈥檚 poor, Black majority.
鈥淎partheid denied Black people education and Zuma represents that, and relates to that,鈥� says Asanda Ngoasheng, a political analyst in Cape Town. 鈥淚n a world where everyone is Westernized, he appeals to many people because he speaks about the pride he takes in his own culture.鈥�
But from his earliest days in national politics, Mr. Zuma has also been embroiled in scandal. He was sacked as the country鈥檚 deputy president in 2005 for taking and facilitating bribes in a major government arms deal in the 1990s. But he retained wide support among those who felt he was being victimized by an out-of-touch political elite, and in 2009 he was elected president.
Under Mr. Zuma鈥檚 tenure, South Africans watched as many of their public services were hollowed out by corruption 鈥� with the most notable accusations against the Guptas, a family of Indian businessmen with close ties to Mr. Zuma and his administration. There were other scandals too, like a dubious $17 million upgrade to Mr. Zuma鈥檚 private homestead on the taxpayer鈥檚 dime. (He later paid back a portion of the money.)
In 2016, the country鈥檚 public protector 鈥� the country鈥檚 anticorruption ombudsman 鈥� called for Mr. Zuma to set up a commission of inquiry into what she called 鈥渟tate capture,鈥� or the corrupt takeover of government institutions by outside interests.
He allowed the commission to go forward, but when it called Mr. Zuma himself to testify in 2019, after his presidency had ended, he refused to answer its questions, and eventually walked out. The country鈥檚 Constitutional Court ordered him to return, warning he would be in contempt of court if he did not.
He didn鈥檛 come back. Instead, he wrote a long letter to the chief justice, explaining that the case against him was 鈥渁n extraordinary abuse of judicial authority to advance politically charged narratives.鈥�
Tuesday鈥檚 order for Mr. Zuma鈥檚 arrest referred to his open hatred for the courts, arguing that it threatened the foundations of South Africa鈥檚 democracy.
鈥淭he vigor with which Mr. Zuma is peddling his disdain of this Court and the judicial process carries the further risk that he will inspire or incite others to similarly defy this Court, the judicial process and the rule of law,鈥� Justice Khampepe read from the judgment.
Mr. Zuma still faces corruption charges for his dealings in the 1999 arms deal, in a case widely expected to go to trial later this year.
With the country under lockdown to slow a third wave of the coronavirus, reaction to his sentence for contempt of court was muted. But many echoed the sentiment of political commentator Oscar van Heerden.
鈥淭辞诲补测,鈥� , 鈥渋t feels good to be South African.鈥�
