The #FreeJacobZuma campaign opposed to the NPA being allowed to get a private medical practitioner to question the medical report of a senior army doctor

14 August 2021

The #FreeJacobZuma campaign is, as a matter of principle, opposed to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) being allowed to appoint a civilian doctor “of their choice”, to question the medical report of the senior Army doctor who examined President Jacob Zuma.

For the NPA to appoint an ordinary civilian doctor to question, and ‘second guess’, the medical report of a senior Army doctor is unheard of, and highly irregular. This is tantamount to allowing an ordinary civilian to challenge an important arm of the State, namely the Army, which is part of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF).

No self-respecting government will allow this to happen. Yet, this outrage is being allowed, because of the irrational hate for President Zuma, by some of those who currently find themselves in positions of power in government. It is abuse of the highest order, and a continuation of the undermining and hollowing out of State institutions for partisan, and narrow factional political, purposes.

Once again it boils down to a situation where there is a special application of the law, and the deliberate and callous undermining of established norms and practices, in order to specifically target President Zuma. This has gone far too far, and the #FreeJacobZuma campaign, and indeed every fair minded, conscientious, and patriotic South African, should put our collective foot down and not allow this to go any further. Enough is enough!

It should honestly not even be necessary to spell this out - but because of the outrageous abuse, and contempt for his human rights and privacy that President Zuma is being subjected to - let us state the obvious again: It is every citizen’s right to have privacy, and not to allow his/her personal medical condition, and private health records, to be made public, and questioned, by every Tom, Dick and Harry.

By allowing the NPA to question (actually challenge!) the medical report of a senior Army doctor, this is exactly what the court is doing, and it is illegal. Abusing the law, and trampling on it by those who are supposed to uphold it, and defend our rights, has evidently now become the norm with regards to the continuing outrageous abuse of President Zuma.

This is the kind of stuff that was synonymous with the apartheid regime’s abuse of the human rights of detainees, who were incarcerated without trial. It only confirms our contention that President Zuma is the first political prisoner since 1994, who is in apartheid-like style illegally detained without a trial.

All of this is a disgraceful continuation of the manner in which President Zuma had been treated for years by our courts, as well as by the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

We recall how Justice Dhaya Pillay, the highly compromised friend of Minister Pravin Gordahn about whom even Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng had to raise serious concerns, questioned the veracity of a medical sick note from President Zuma when he was too ill to attend court, and had the audacity to issue a warrant of arrest for him.

Similarly, Justice Raymond Zondo questioned President Zuma’s health in a highly publicized media conference, when he was unable, because of serious illness, to attend a hearing of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. Others like Minister Gordahn, and Mr. Koos Bekker of NASPERS, who also at specific times failed to appear before the State Capture Commission, were not subjected to such deliberate public humiliation, and were treated with kid gloves and deference.

In general the reporting by most of the main stream media about President Zuma’s health is callous in the extreme. There is absolutely no respect for President Zuma’s privacy, basic human rights, and dignity. This is once again glaringly obvious by the manner in which many in the media now openly question whether President Zuma is “really ill”, and are trying to frame his medical condition as “just another excuse”, not to stand trial. The cartoons that are published mocking President Zuma for being ill, cross all boundaries of human decency!

In any other country, with even a semblance of respect for human rights, such media reporting would have been anathema, illegal, and considered an outrage, but in our country this has now become the norm. In doing so our Constitution and Bill of Rights are openly flaunted.

The #FreeJacobZuma campaign has instructed our attorneys to urgently investigate what legal steps can be taken against journalists, and media houses, that make themselves guilty of such despicable conduct.

We will also approach the High Court in Pietermaritzburg to oppose the NPA from being allowed to proceed with the highly irregular step to bring in a civilian doctor to second guess the medical report of a senior Army doctor. We have no doubt if this is allowed to happen the human rights, and privacy of President Zuma, will even be further compromised and trampled on.

Overall, the #FreeJacobZuma campaign continues to demand the immediate release of President Zuma, and we will continue to fight with all the legal and peaceful means at our disposal to protect President Zuma’s human rights from being abused.

A LUTA CONTINUA! END.

Issued by Carl Niehaus on behalf of the #FreeJacobZuma campaign, 14 August 2021