… says he is not asking for sympathy
Jacob Zuma has said that he is not scared of prison, he is not asking for sympathy and that he considers himself to be a prison of his conscience.
he has labeled the sysstem as an “angry judiciary” that wants to punish him for his freedom of speech where he has criticised the judges.
“If you think it is a judicary that is healthy, i disagree, it is not healthy,” he said.
He also said that the judgment has not taken into account his old age and the fact that he will be exposed to Covid-19 if he is to go to jail.
However, Zuma showed up at the press conferene this Sunday evening without a face mask.
He also confirmed that he has’nt been vaccinated.
“I am not scared of going to jail for my beliefs. It will not be for the first time I will be a prison or of conscience. I have already spent more than 10 years at Robben Island under cruel conditions.”
“I was a prisoner of my conscience and beliefs. I have a duty and obligation to ensure that the dignity and the respect for our judiciary is not compromised by sentences that remind our people of apartheid days. Sending anyone to prison without a trial is a travesty of our justice, if you cannot even identify the case number of your case.”
“Even today I call on all my supporters to use peaceful means to protest against this injustice. I really must be clear I am not asking for sympathy but justice. My age and health condition and any other mitigating circumstances where not considered when the imprisonment was decided.”
Zuma said he is working with his team, that is why he has not made himself available to the police soon after the judgment.
“If it was up to me, I would once again go to jail for my beliefs, as early as today, whether I come out alive or not. But I have never operated as an individual and I am therefore guided by views of my family and comrades. I wish to thank my legal team for going the extra mile to challenge these many injustices.”
“I believe in the rule of law. I fought and went to prison and exile so that there must be justice and the rule of law in our country. No honest person can accuse me of being an enemy of the rule of law.”
“I am pursuing peaceful and constitutional methods to deal with this situation by approaching the courts again. I have been in and out of courts for the past 20 years and regularly attending to all my court appearances except if the doctors advised me otherwise,” he said.
He said that “everyone” was shocked when judge Pillay issued a warrant for his arrest when he was too sick to appear in the court where she was presiding.
He said the same judge was part of the concourt panel which ordered his detention without trial.
Said Zuma, “No reasonable person can believe that all members of the majority judgment did their work guided only by the ideals enshrined in our constitution.”