Former president Jacob Zuma on Saturday faulted the country’s judges for his contempt-of-court conviction which led to two weeks of rioting last July, and left over 350 people dead and billions of dollars in damaged property.
Zuma, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison after he declined to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, described his imprisonment “as excessive.”
The sentence was turned into medical parole due to his poor health two months later, and he released to spend the rest of his time at home where the sentenced expired.
“Having reached the end of my unlawful incarceration, I decided that the circumstances of my conviction and direct imprisonment should give us a chance to reflect,” Zuma told reports at a news conference.
“The conviction was unlawful,” he said during his first media conference since his sentence ended on 7 October.
“The fact is that the highest court in the land violated the law,” the 80-year-old former leader said.
“We need to make sure judges are not reduced to politicians,” he said, warning that “if we don’t stand up and hold members of the judiciary accountable, we will be creating a judicial dictatorship in this country.”
In addition, Zuma announced last month that he was ready to make a political comeback at the ruling African National Congress’ elective conference in December where the top seats will hotly be contested.
His legal troubles are not yet over for the octogenarian, however.
Zuma and a French arms dealer are still facing 18 corruption charges in billions over an arms deal dating back to over two decades ago.
NM/as/APA