There is a heightened police presence as Jacob Zuma‘s lengthy corruption case plays itself out in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Former President, Jacob Zuma, is today at the Pietermaritzburg High Court for his application for leave to appeal. He is challenging an earlier decision to dismiss his special plea application, to remove Billy Downer from leading prosecution in his corruption trial.
Zuma’s appearance in court started off on an interesting note as former private secretary to Nelson Mandela, Zelda LaGrange took to Twitter to spit fire. Zelda was ticked off by the fact that at some point, Zuma took off his mask. She said she was concerned about Zuma’s health, as he is “terminally ill”.
“So is the former President allowed to remove his mask in court? He is terminally ill. Putting himself at great risk,” Zelda said. On Zuma being too old to stand trial, Zelda said age doesn’t imply that one must go around committing crime and not be held accountable because they are old.
”Being too old to prosecute would then imply a 80 year old can rob a bank, murder, rape… With impunity. I don’t think so”, Zelda said.
See tweet below:
Is Zelda really concerned about Zuma’s health, or is she just sparking some kind of controversy?
Meanwhile, Advocate Dali Mpofu, for Jacob Zuma, told the Pietermaritzburg High Court that it’s not justice that the former president can only seek to have prosecutor Billy Downer recused from his case once the trial has commenced.
Outside the court, supporters of Jacob Zuma were spotted loitering. Only a handful of the members of ANC were spotted singing very interesting songs outside the High Court. The supporters were singing that President Cyril Ramaphosa must not start a fight, chanting that he is psychologically unwell for the ongoing cases against former president Jacob Zuma. Zuma’s supporter’s maintan that the former President is treated unfairly.
“No white person in this country has ever been punished the way the state keeps punishing Jacob Zuma, these institutions are hate driven and only a fool would believe in them being for the people,” one of Zuma’s supporters said.