This was a scathing, and hugely significant judgement against Jacob Zuma.
The Constitutional Court didn’t simply find him in contempt, but spelled out the many ways in which South Africa’s former president had lied, sought to mislead the public, and ultimately tried to “destroy the rule of law”.
The judges were clearly seeking to pre-empt the inevitable pushback from Jacob Zuma’s supporters, who have claimed that he is the victim of a vast political conspiracy, and who wonder why a former apartheid hero who spent a decade on Robben Island should be imprisoned, while key figures from South Africa’s old racist white minority government remain free.
But while there may be some protests against the Constitutional Court’s majority decision, many more South Africans are likely to welcome the judiciary’s firm stance after years in which it seemed the rule of law was being eroded by a culture of high-level impunity.
The ruling will also have an impact within the governing ANC, and will strengthen the hand of President Cyril Ramaphosa while weakening those – often linked to Mr Zuma – who have also been implicated in the vast “state capture” corruption that Mr Ramaphosa has repeatedly vowed to expose and confront.
Source: BBC
