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Ms Broughton's ironic turn of phrase was, of course, inspired by the "torrential downpours" that have resulted in devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal. Meteorological scholars have attributed the unseasonal drop to a "low shear system linked to surface low pressure to the southeast of the country."
But, before the biblical deluge, the skies literally rained down on the parade of Zuma supporters, with the result that the threat of Monday's mass turnout had been reduced, disappointingly, to a meager shower, with an absence of the man himself. , who was apparently too ill to make an appearance.
This may or may not explain Myeni's atavistic behavior, but it is now abundantly clear that the implied threat of violence, bloodshed, and anarchy has come to the fore as a strategy to prevent the Thief-in-Chief from having his day in court that day. legal. Claim of the team that you want so much.
Before Monday's court proceedings, News 24 reported that Zuma's lawyers had urged Judge Koen to be "aware" of last year's deadly riots following his client's jailing for contempt of court when he deliberates on whether or not to postpone Zuma's corruption trial.
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Lest this sound like too much of a promise, this hoax (because that's our go-to collective noun for lawyers) was quick to add that, as a former president, his client "does not and cannot approve" of the eight days of chaos he left behind. hundreds of deaths in July.
Not that he needed it, of course. Daughter Dudu put on a good show on behalf of the family, shouting on Twitter in a way that she suggested that she was not only fanning the flames of the riots, but also pouring gasoline.
Interestingly, uBaba's lawyers refuse to condemn the July riots. Instead, they argue that whether or not the violence was justified by "a sense of public outrage" at their client's perceived unfair treatment "is a matter of speculation best left to historians or other experts."
now they are apparently bugging the Court of Appeals similarly, and have informed its president, Judge Mandisa Maya, that the disturbances were in part "attributable" to a "perceived" unfair ruling by the Constitutional Court. Consequently, they have urged her to reconsider the dismissal of her client's latest corruption prosecution challenges. In a request to Maya, Zuma's lawyer, Bethuelthusini, states:
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โIt is no exaggeration to say that this is a matter of high public interest that implies a threat of lack of justice and a possible loss of confidence in our judiciary by Mr. Zuma. When such conceived mistakes are made, citizens (mistakenly) feel entitled to resort to self-help. In a related case a few months ago, more than 350 South Africans lost their lives in riots that were, at least in part, due to a perceived wrongful and unfair judicial outcome.โ
self help? That's an interesting way of putting it.
This tactic of threatening personal development if uBaba's wishes are not granted by the courts has been with us for a while. It was there in March last year, after the Zondo commission of inquiry into the state capture asked the Constitutional Court to jail Zuma for two years, instead of imposing a suspended sentence, for failing to cooperate with the commission.
At the time, one of those "historians and other experts," Professor Susan Booysen, author of Dominance and decline: the ANC in the time of Zuma (Wits University Press), he suggested that the key to understanding Zuma's brinkmanship was the conviction that the authorities were too scared to act against him.
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Booysen even more said daily hipster that Zuma was, in fact, negotiating out of fear of possible insurrection if he were arrested, even as his popular support seemed to be waning. But, as the July riots indicated, that shrinking base of support would do everything in its power to provoke such an insurrection.
Writing in a new acclaimed book, The Age of the Strongman: How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy Around the World (Bodley's Head), financial times Journalist Gideon Rachman called the riots "a reminder of the difficulties of maintaining democracy in countries suffering from deep poverty and inequality." In fact, given the high unemployment rate, "many people needed little encouragement to join in the looting and robbery."
Zuma appears only fleetingly in Rachman's work, most of which is devoted to heavier populist heavyweights such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Boris Johnson, and Narendra Modi, among others.
But Rachman does emphasize that the damage caused by Zuma's presidency was considerable. When he interviewed Cyril Ramaphosa in London in 2019, the new president told Rachman that the corruption of the Zuma years may have cost the country the equivalent of 10 percent of its GDP. "It was much bigger than people could have imagined," Squirrel said. โ[The cost] It goes way beyond 500 billion rand.โ
Let's put aside the nagging thought that, during the years this all happened, there weren't many outraged protests from Squirrel. What is interesting, however, is that Zuma reportedly celebrated his 80th birthday on Tuesday at an unidentified hospital. According to Mzwanele Manyi, he has been admitted to this undisclosed facility "for all kinds of tests, so doctors are running tests on him."
His medical condition, as readers will recall, is ostensibly "medical."
Meanwhile, in a statement on Tuesday, the Jacob Zuma Foundation wished its patron "the most fabulous and happy" birthday, adding: "His achievements over many decades are too numerous to mention and all peace- and peace-loving South Africans people from around the world have a special place in their hearts for him.โ
Interestingly, uBaba was well enough to welcome controversial diamond dealer and suspected Ponzi swindler, Louis Liebenberg, to his Nkandla home on Sunday. Perhaps the thrill of receiving a gift of two Liebenberg cows was too much for him, and the old man top I had to get some rest instead of sneaking off to Pietermaritzburg for the day. As for the rest of us, well... maybe there will come a time when Zuma goes to court and doesn't come home.
And what day will that be for sprinkling. Toys will be thrown.
tightrope acts
South Africa continues to tie itself in interesting knots regarding its "non-partisan" stance on Russia's war in Ukraine. She continues to insist that she maintains a neutral stance on the conflict, yet at the same time accuses the UN Security Council of not fulfilling its mandate to ensure international peace and security. Given that he refuses to budge on this unique position, the decision to once again abstain from voting in a general assembly vote to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council for committing atrocities against Ukrainian civilians should not have come as a surprise.
Naledi Pandor, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, seems to be worried that all this will confuse us when, in fact, it is not necessary. "An unaligned position," she told a Press conference last week, "does not mean that we approve of Russia's military intervention in Ukraine." It's just that his government feels that international efforts to do something about the situation will not end the conflict. Much better than doing nothing and just looking the other way.
Confused? You don't need to be. But consider how different the situation would be if this were, oh, maybe 50 years ago, and the issue before the general assembly was South Africa and apartheid. Perhaps that is the kind of approach that is needed here. We can call it a kind of pencil test.
Pandor is perhaps most useful when lecturing South African chiefs of mission on how to behave as ambassadors of the country. "You are not the diplomat to be removed," he recently told a cocktail party of such dignities (because that is the accepted collective noun). "You are not a diplomat who will get drunk on some foreign street and you are not the diplomat who will forget your purpose."
This is apparently a reference to Lassy Chiwayo, the ambassador to Shanghai, China, who was quietly removed for "health reasons" in 2013 after reports emerged that he was found drunk, walking naked on a street near his office. . In order not to judge, remember that it can be quite stressful having to represent the peculiar interests of the country abroad. Self-importance is indeed a heavy cross to bear.
