PRETORIA, South Africa
Former South African President Jacob Zuma has launched a scathing attack on some of the country's top judges after he was barred from running for parliament on Monday.
In his first interview since
the ban, Mr Zuma told the reporters the Constitutional Court was wrong to
decide he was unfit to run, based on his 2021 conviction for contempt of court.
“I expected that from our
judges, but they are definitely wrong. Not correct," the 82-year-old said,
adding that the constitution should be changed.
Ahead of next week's general
election, Mr Zuma had been campaigning under the banner of the newly formed
uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.
He joined the party after
falling out with the governing African National Congress (ANC), which he used
to lead.
The electoral commission
argued that the constitution bars anyone who was sentenced to more than 12
months in prison from serving as a lawmaker - a view backed by the
Constitutional Court judges.
Mr Zuma was convicted in 2021
for refusing to testify at an inquiry investigating corruption during his
presidency.
His lawyers had insisted he
was entitled to become an MP as his sentence was reduced to three months after
current President Cyril Ramaphosa released him from prison in what was widely
seen as an attempt to placate the former president's angry supporters.
“The judges of the
Constitutional Court have acted very funny to me - towards me in particular,”
Mr Zuma said.
“They are not taking into
account the will of the people of this country; they use their own will.”
He was president from 2009 to
2018 before being forced out as leader of the ANC amid allegations of
widespread corruption in his government.
The corruption, widely known
as "state capture", saw hundreds of millions of dollars of public
assets taken into private hands. Mr Zuma has always denied any direct role in
corruption, but is due to face trial next year on allegations of bribery.
He said he had been wrongly
stripped of his role as leader of the ANC.
“I don’t know what ‘state
capture’ means. If people say I am corrupt, what did I do? Do you have any
facts about it? Am I guilty?
“I was removed before the end
of my term, and nothing was produced as evidence that this was an issue.”
Mr Zuma’s MK party had
previously voiced its desire to change South Africa’s constitution, which was
drawn up 30 years ago at the birth of the country’s democracy following decades
of white-minority rule.
Asked about this in the light
of his election ban, Mr Zuma reiterated that the historic document needed to be
changed.
“This constitution in the
continent of Africa is guided by the laws from Europe, not us,” he said.
“There is nothing that has
come right in this continent because we are still dominated by those who were
the ones [who] slaved us, and after slavery, oppressed us, and after
oppression, put their own laws to run us.
“There are details that clash
with our lives.”
An Ipsos opinion poll released
last month gave MK 8% of the vote, and the ANC 40% as it loses support to MK
and other opposition parties.
But some analysts suggest that
with the governing party stepping up its campaign in recent weeks, it could
still cross the 50% mark. But if the ANC gets less than half of the vote, it
would lose its majority for the first time in 30 years.
MK is expected to do
especially well in Mr Zuma's home region of KwaZulu-Natal.
After Mr Zuma was jailed for
contempt of court in 2021, angry supporters sparked days of deadly riots. More
than 300 people were killed in the clashes.
On Wednesday Mr Zuma said this
violence demonstrated the scale of public support for him.
“This must tell you that the
masses of this country loves Zuma – that’s why we had that,” he said.
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