Making martyrs out of clowns

Come off it, you’re not prepared to die, sir [View this email in your browser]( April 15, 2021 [Mail & Guardian]( [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, On 20 April 1964, at the beginning of the Rivonia Trialists’ defence, Nelson Mandela delivered his immortal [“I am prepared to die” speech](. In the three-hour long missive — considered by many to be an early tenet of our democracy — he went into great detail to justify the motivations of the ANC, the realities of political resistance, and the injustice of the apartheid regime. But it is his closing lines that would be quoted by young politicians for decades and recycled ubiquitously into house music songs. Reportedly looking the judge squarely in the face, he said: “During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realised. But, my Lord, if it needs to be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Mandela delivered these words despite his lawyers cautioning that the judge might snap up the dare and impose the death penalty — an outcome many observers thought was a distinct possibility at the start of the trial. We were reminded of these words by an unlikely source this week: one JG Zuma. Although not facing quite the same stakes as Madiba, the former president too has looked to paint himself as a martyr; the constitutional hero who would leave this Earth before he is willing to betray his principles. Eunice Stoltz reports that on Wednesday[Zuma submitted a 21-page letter to Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng]( out of “respect”, to let the head of the Constitutional Court know that he would not be deposing an affidavit about an appropriate sanction should he be found to be in contempt of court, as Mogoeng had directed. But instead, remaining defiant, the former president said at the start of his emotive missive: “I wish to advise you that I will not depose to an affidavit as presently directed. Second, I wish to advise that my stance in this regard is not out of any disrespect for you or the court, but stems from my conscientious objection to the manner in which I have been treated.” Zuma accused the court of partaking in “political gimmicks” with its directive. The court had already decided that he should be imprisoned, he lamented, and he could do nothing to persuade it otherwise. “I am ready to become a prisoner of the Constitutional Court,” he continued. “My imprisonment would become the soil on which future struggles for a judiciary that sees itself as a servant of the Constitution and the people...” Zuma hasn’t participated in any of the court proceedings launched by the Zondo commission since he scampered out of its hearings in November 2019, when Zondo denied Zuma’s recusal application. During a Constitutional Court hearing on the [commission’s application to send Zuma to prison]( in March, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga asked advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, representing the commission, for examples of courts sentencing individuals to prison for contempt when they had failed to argue their case. Madlanga suggested the court could request Zuma’s input on his punishment, should he be found in contempt, which Ngcukaitobi rejected. Last week, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, who did not sit on Zuma’s recent cases, but issues all Constitutional Court directives, wrote to the former president asking him to file an affidavit on an appropriate sanction if the court finds him in contempt of its order to appear before the commission. Yesterday Zuma responded in a letter, rather than an affidavit, claiming he did not want to validate “a sham and an attempt to sanitise the gravity of the repressive manner in which the court has dealt with my issues”. It hasn't been a great week for Zuma. He has the R15-million receipt to prove it. On Tuesday, he suffered another legal defeat, with the supreme court of appeal dismissing his appeal against a high court ruling that the state attorney recover at least[R15-million it paid for legal fees]( in his corruption case. In a December 2018 ruling, Deputy Judge President Audrey Ledwaba had overturned a 2006 agreement signed by Zuma and his predecessor Thabo Mbeki, stating the government would pay Zuma’s legal fees in his protracted corruption case. Institutions matter. The ANC knows this. Zuma does too. The missives and leaks of the past few days are evidence of how annoyingly resilient democracies can be. Despite all its hurdles and quirks, the country’s institutions have fought back. This was always going to be a drawn-out affair. The strategy can and will work if citizens forget what has been said and done since the establishment of the Zondo commission when they mark their ballot papers come election time. It is also important to remember who enabled the nation to be so ruthlessly made a fool of. South Africa’s democratic institutions may be frayed at the edges, but it is heartening to see the pushback against those who would make martyrs out of clowns. Yours in solidarity, Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham [Subscribe now]( Enjoy The Ampersand? Share it with your friends [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( [Share]( [Share]( Copyright © 2021 Mail & Guardian Media LTD, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive communications from the Mail & Guardian either at our website or by taking out a print subscription. Our mailing address is: Mail & Guardian Media LTD 25 Owl St BraamfonteinJohannesburg, Gauteng 2001 South Africa [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences or unsubscribe here.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Mail & Guardian Media LTD · 25 Owl St · Braamfontein · Johannesburg, Gauteng 2001 · South Africa