Yesterday’s protests around KwaZulu-Natal against Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment shows that the ex-prez will not go quietly into the night (with apologies to Independence Day).
Small and sporadic though they were, and largely confined to KZN, they were still a chilling reminder that the Zuma faction remains a force to be reckoned with.
Zuma, and several others, got into office on the back of massive support among ordinary ANC members who still believe the fallacy that he is innocent and being victimised.
As we warned in this column last week, the country’s security and intelligence apparatus should have been placed on high alert to prevent the chaos seen on the province’s major routes yesterday.
It is no thanks to their lack of foresight and preparation that the situation did not escalate into the type of chaos seen in the US, when Donald Trump similarly refused to accept that his time was up, goaded his supporters into storming the Capitol, and then refused to accept responsibility for what ensued.
Zuma and his faction have suffered a truly humiliating week; him being jailed and his appeal to the Pietermaritzburg High Court being summarily dismissed (with costs) yesterday, Ace Magashule failing to get his suspension overturned (with costs) and Carl Niehaus being fined for breaking lockdown regulations.
But now, when they are cornered and waking up to the reality that the chickens are coming home to roost ‒ and that the roost has iron bars and requires an orange uniform ‒ is when they are at their most desperate and dangerous, and when we need our law enforcement to be most alert.
The Independent on Saturday