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| Former President Jacob Zuma |
DURBAN – Jacob Zuma’s lawyers have told the Pietermaritzburg High Court that society has unleashed mob justice on the former president, saying he has been treated less humanely.
Zuma’s lawyer senior counsel Muzi Sikhakhane made his opening remarks in court this morning as his team prepares to argue in favor of a permanent stay of prosecution.
The former president has made the application for the corruption case against him to be dismissed, arguing that there had been unreasonable delays and that the case was politically motivated.
Zuma’s lawyer senior counsel Sikhakhane said that he would try and persuade the court and everyone who hated his client to understand who Jacob Zuma really was.
He said that he would explain to the court how the hatred toward Zuma started, saying that former Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy connived with prosecutors to charge the former president.
In his opening statement, Sikhakhane also suggested that Zuma was being targeted because society did not like what he has been accused of doing, calling this mob justice.
"I may not like Mr Zuma myself, the question I ask myself is, Mr Zuma, can your son and mine accused of anything, should they be dealt with outside the four corners of the Constitution for what they've done or suspected of doing what we don't like [sic]."
He said that it did not matter what Zuma has been accused of doing, he must not be treated with less humanity and outside the bounds of the Constitution.
Sikhakhane earlier said that the corruption case against Zuma was an intersection of law and politics.
“This case is an intersection of law and politics. It’s an intersection of law and politics because we’re not discussing the lease here today; we’re here to argue about the legal foundations of the nature of the state we chose.”
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