By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former President Jacob Zuma says his imprisonment was more or less the same of what happened under apartheid where people were jailed without trial.
Zuma was speaking for the first time since his incarceration following his contempt of court ruling.
Speaking virtually at the “welcome home prayer” held by the JG Zuma Foundation, the former head of state said “something has gone terribly wrong in our country”.
“The main aspects of the unconstitutional debacle that ended with my current imprisonment are repeating, yes, I remain a prisoner under very strict parole conditions.”
He said many attempts were made to remove him from any leadership position in the ANC and the government since 1994.
“The judiciary commission of inquiry was the final measure of those who fear what I represent. There is no legislation in terms of which anyone can direct the president to appoint a commission of inquiry,” he claimed.
Zuma continued to insist that the state capture inquiry was unconstitutionally and unlawfully established, because then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela ordered that the power to appoint its chairperson must be taken out of his hands.
This, she explained, was to avoid any perception of conflict of interest, as Zuma, his son and his friends, the Gupta family, were all implicated in the alleged wrongdoing that the commission was tasked to investigate.
The state capture of inquiry was set up by Zuma himself, under pressure over mounting scandals, shortly before he was ousted in 2018 by the ruling party.
Zuma, 79, is accused of enabling the plunder of state coffers during his nearly nine-year stay in office.
He was released on medical parole more than a month ago after former Correctional Services commissioner Arthur Fraser overrode the opinion of the prison medical parole appeal board to grant a unilateral get-out-of-jail-free card.
Zuma is separately facing 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering relating to a 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and military gear from five European arms firms for 30 billion rand, then the equivalent of nearly $5 billion.