Any attempts to arrest beleaguered former South African president Jacob Zuma would be met with strong and physical resistance, a senior official of the uMkhonto WeSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) has warned.
MKMVA spokesperson Carl Niehaus issued the warning on Saturday in the wake of Zuma’s legal problems following his decision to stop attending the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, which is probing alleged corruption during his nine-year rule that ended in February 2018.
The country’s Constitutional Court, however, ruled two weeks ago that the former South African leader should appear before the commission as “a matter of public interest,” adding that he had no choice in the matter.
Zuma, however, said he would no longer attend the inquiry, challenging the judiciary that he was not afraid of being arrested and going to prison should the law take its course.
Visiting the former president’s retirement home in Nkandla Village in KwaZulu Natal Province, Niehaus said the freedom struggle veterans would assign their own security at Zuma’s home to stop the police from arresting their former comrade-in-arms.
“We will do everything within our membership to prevent his arrest and to protect him from such humiliation by deploying MKMVA members to Zuma’s home,” Niehaus said.
Niehaus added: “There will be, from henceforth, a presence of uMkhonto WeSizwe Military Veterans members at Nkandla.”
The MKMVA are veterans of the armed wing of the ruling African National Congress, and Zuma was an intelligence officer of the uMkhonto WeSizwe during the struggle.
NM/jn/APA