The Constitutional Court has sentenced former president Jacob Zuma to 15 months imprisonment for contempt of court following his repeated failure to appear before the Zondo Commission into State Capture. In a majority judgment read by Acting Chief Justice Sisi Khampepe, the court found Zuma in contempt after he failed to pitch at the state capture inquiry after failing to comply with South Africa’s Apex court. Zuma will now have five days to turn himself in at either the Johannesburg Central police station or at Nkandla to begin serving his sentence. There can be no doubt Mr Zuma is in contempt of court. He failed to comply with an order of the Constitutional Court. Of course, society would receive benefit from Mr Zuma’s testimony at the state capture inquiry, given that the maleficence happened during his term,” said Khampepe.
News24 editor Adriaan Basson said, “The perpetual victim has met his match in Justice Sisi Khampepe,” in his column. (Subscribe to read)
Business Day writes that the measures implemented under the Level 4 lockdown will have devasting effects on workers and industry. While they may not be as stringent and nonsensical as the ones enforced during the first lockdown period in March 2020, it is not clear how effective the current measures will actually be at combatting the spread heightened by the third wave.
Mandy Weiner writes in News24, that President Cyril Ramaphosa and government need to stop blaming ordinary citizens for the spread of COVID-19 and need to look towards the failings of government. Weiner asserts that government needs to look at the reasons behind why people are not following regulations and protocols as opposed to the continuous lecturing around our bad “behaviour” (Subscribe to read)
Here’s a roundup of the most interesting opinions today:
- Zuma judgment: The ball’s in the ANC’s court. Will it do the right thing? – News 24 (Subscribe to read)
- Covid-19: A struggling government, and growing defiance of lockdown regulations – News24 (Subscribe to read)
- Mozambique matters to an SA gas market heading into deficit – Business Day
- News from the Future: Diamonds are for everything – Business Day (Subscribe to read)
- Delta strikes SA — as shambolic vaccine programme leaves us horribly vulnerable – Financial Mail
- SA’s healthcare workers must name the dragons in the system or burn in the fire they breathe – Daily Maverick
- It’s too late, but Ramaphosa has no option – The Citizen (Subscribe to read)
