Is Jacob Zuma receiving special treatment?

22 July 2021

The DA is shocked by the decision of the National Commissioner of Correctional Services to release former president Jacob Zuma on compassionate grounds to attend his brother’s funeral. This is the policy of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) in respect of low-risk offenders, but this decision is wrong in these circumstances for the following reasons:

The current volatile situation in KwaZulu-Natal is anything but low risk, and there is a very strong possibility of this funeral and Mr Zuma’s presence at it causing still more unrest. There will have to be a significant presence of the security forces to prevent unrest, which is not justified, since the security forces are required elsewhere to restore order and prevent chaos. The cost of such a deployment is also hard to justify.

The current level 4 lockdown regulations very stringently circumscribe attendance at funerals. Previously, no relatives at all were allowed to attend funerals, yet the DCS is inviting this occasion to be a super-spreader as it will almost definitely attract a large crowd, which will be very difficult to control.

The decision to release Mr Zuma is inconsistent with the previous determinations by DCS. I have tried to intercede on many occasions to have inmates released to attend funerals, and the Department invariably refuses, stating that they have insufficient staff to guarantee the inmate’s security.

It seems that Mr Zuma once more is being granted special treatment, just like he was when the Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions dropped 783 charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering against him in 2009. Once more, it appears as if there is one law for the rich and connected, and another law for the rest of us.

Issued by James Selfe, DA Shadow Minister of Correctional Services, 22 July 2021