The Department of Correctional Services’ decision not to send former President Jacob Zuma to prison and then release him on special remission has sparked debate with some analysts and opposition parties arguing if it was the right decision.
Zuma is part of the 9 000 prisoners who benefitted from a remission of sentences announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa to low-risk offenders to ease overcrowding in correctional facilities, worsened by this week’s fire at Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre near Louis Trichardt, Limpopo.
However, Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said Ramaphosa released Zuma because he feared that there was going to be civil unrest in the country if the former President was arrested.
“Government said let us not temper with the situation or process, which might be volatile on its own but they also had 2024 elections in mind. Imagine Zuma had gone to jail, the anger on the ground would have been too much,” he said.
Seepe said Zuma’s woes started when then Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo was heading the State Capture Commission in which Zuma refused to appear.
“Zondo should have recused himself when Zuma refused to appear at the commission to allow the process to unfold,” he said.
According to Senior Politics Lecturer at University of North West, Dr Jan Venter Zuma’s release is another example that powerful people are untouchable.
“This is something that started in the Thabo Mbeki era that people of influence and power will get away with more than you and I,” Venter said.
While DA leader John Steenhuisen accused Ramaphosa of failing to protect the rule of law.
“He weaseled out of standing up for the rule of law and the Constitution instead used a cynical and manipulative move to free Zuma.”
