Although former president. Jacob Zuma must be held accountable in court over the charges against him, he is too old to go to jail, says Julius Malema, EFF leader.
Malema, a thorn in Zuma’s flesh during his last years as head of state, asked in a speech at the Cape Town Press Club on Friday what kind of community is it if we (like Zuma) are jailing the elderly.
The purpose of the prison sentence is for correction. “How is Zuma going to be corrected? He’s an old man. “
Malema suggested that Zuma should be punished in another, appropriate way (if he is guilty).
Zuma faces 16 counts of fraud, money laundering, corruption and robbery. This relates to 783 alleged payments to him by the French arms company Thales in 1999.
Earlier in this regard, Zuma’s partner Schabir Shaik was jailed for 15 years for corruption. Shaik was released on medical parole in March 2009 after serving only two years in prison.
Judge Dhaya Pillay issued a warrant for Zuma’s arrest on February 4 this year in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court for failing to appear for his corruption trial. Zuma’s legal team did submit a medical certificate that he was ill, but the state questioned it because some of the information on it was vague. The warrant was suspended until Zuma’s next appearance in May.
