By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Photo Credit: Masi Losi.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says he will engage president Cyril Ramaphosa to pardon his predecessor to avoid further civil unrest and violence similar to the July 2021.
This comes after the Constitutional Court on Thursday refused to grant the Department of Correctional leave to appeal an earlier ruling on former president Jacob Zuma’s release on medical parole.
The department wanted to appeal a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal which declared Zuma’s release by former Correctional Services boss Arthur Fraser as illegal.
The former president was handed a 15-month jail term in June 2021 for contempt of court.
Speaking during his engagements with reporters at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton on Friday, Malema said he will approach Ramaphosa once the department has made a decision on whether to send Zuma back to jail or not.
“You know, when Zuma was refusing to go to the commission and those things of the Constitutional Court, I went to visit him and I pleaded with him, and I said Zuma, you don’t lose anything, go there and speak’. Go and put your perspective, it doesn’t matter what the decision is,” he said.
“We don’t know what’s going to be the decision of the Department of Correctional Services. The president’s hand are not tied and that’s what we want to remind him of. We have reached a point where we must choose peace over all this types of things [rather than] say no one is above the law. Zuma has served [his sentence]. It’s enough. Why do you still want to burn this country even after a person has served?”
Malema said violence, similar to the July 2021 unrest sparked by Zuma’s jailing, should be avoided at all costs.
“A presidential pardon is proper. We must try and mitigate a situation where we avoid violence. We saw 350 to 400 Africans die in July. We do not want a repeat of that, we don’t and if the president can intervene in the best interest of the country, that’s good because he is not using the presidential pardon for personal use, it is for the cause.”
Meanwhile, the ANC in KZN said it will take all necessary measures to ensure peace and stability in the wake of the ruling.
“We believe that the 2021July unrest has lessons of equal significance for all arms of the state, the ANC, opposition political parties, the private sector, the media and society at large. About R50 billion was wiped out of the South African economy as a result of the July 2021 unrest. It is for these reasons we have taken a decision to consult widely to ensure that as we move forward, there is peace and stability,” the party said.
Malema also spoke on the ConCourt’s decision to rule in favour of Ramaphosa regarding Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s suspension.
He said he was of the view that the judgment was “bad”.
It doesn’t matter how you look at it,” he said.
“The court that took a correct decision is the Western Cape Court. The president was emotional, the president stood to benefit from that. We respect the decision of the Constitutional Court, but we disagree with it respectfully. The decisions of the court are not alpha and omega.”
Malema also criticised Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, who cleared Ramaphosa of wrongdoing on Phala Phala, saying she exonerated the president because she was vying for a top position at the Chapter 9 institution.
Meanwhile, Malema said the EFF would like to work with opposition parties to remove the ANC from power and offer an alternative solution to citizens.
“We cannot impose ourselves on the opposition parties. If they don’t want us then we will work with those who want to work with us, but our preferred choice will be that the opposition parties should come together to unseat the ANC and we have done this before. We went into the municipalities and removed the ANC,” the EFF leader said.