Investors watching Zuma’s case with keen interest

The Jacob Zuma rescission case in the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) is set to have a huge political impact for South Africa already dangling over the cliff as a destination not good to invest in.

Investors were surely watching the case with keen interest while the writing was on the wall that the rating agencies were bound to give the country a further junk status.

Either decision by the court could send the country on renewed violent protests or deliver the country into the path to peace. If Zuma lost, he was damned to remain in prison and current violent protests around him would continue.

But if he won, the country would see not only the subsiding of the rampant looting and burning of property and vehicles, but Zuma would be emboldened to mobilise further in his mission to portray himself as victim.

The country was presently on tenterhooks and any ruling that would see his arrest rescinded, would be a relief for the Zuma faction of the ANC.

In case a rescission application was granted, it would be first time that the ConCourt reversed its own judgment.

Zuma, who is serving a 15-month jail term after the court sentenced him for contempt of court, following his refusal to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, is the first president in the country’s history to be jailed.

He had been asking for his “day in court” for many years since he was charged with corruption and others charges emanating from the multi-billion rand arms deal. His long-running “Stalingrad defence” reached a dead-end when he was ordered to surrender himself to jailing within five days.

On Friday, he lost the first instalment of his challenges when the High Court in Pietermaritzburg dismissed his applicationfor a stay of arrest. Should the matter before the ConCourt be dismissed, he will remain in jail, where he would serve for some time before he was considered for a parole.

His lawyers had been pleading for his release, citing his age at 79 years and being a sickly man. They also cited flaws in the ConCourt ruling as their motivation.

– ericn@citizen.co.za