Supporters of former South African President, Jacob Zuma on Sunday vowed to render the country ungovernable if he is jailed.
It would be recalled that Zuma was on Tuesday, June 29 sentenced to 15 months by country’s Constitutional Court for contempt of court.
Read Also: Just In: Jacob Zuma, Ex-South African President, Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison
Zuma was found guilty by the country’s highest court after he defied its order to appear at a corruption inquiry centered on his time in power between 2009 and 2018.
The judge ordered the former South African president to hand himself over within five days.
After sentencing Zuma, the South African court nonetheless agreed to hear his challenge to rescind the order.
A surrender deadline was set to run out on Sunday but 79-year-old Zuma has shown no sign he will hand himself in.
In a show of force, loyalists clad in their African National Congress (ANC) regalia have been outside their embattled leader’s Nkandla homestead in Kwa-Zulu Natal province for weeks.
Vowing to protect Zuma, the protesters called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down.
“We are here to say Ramaphosa must step down. Must step down”, a visibly angry loyalist said. “As from Monday, we will make the country ungovernable.”
Police, under orders to arrest Zuma if necessary, were stationed across the province on Sunday to control the crowds descending on Nkandla.
If Zuma fails to turn himself in, police will be given a further three days to arrest him.
Read Also: Just In: Jacob Zuma, Ex-South African President, Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison
This comes after the former president who has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court after he repeatedly refused to give evidence to corruption investigators, told hundreds of supporters camped outside his home that his rights had been violated.
Zuma said;
My constitutional rights were abused by judges of the country’s constitutional court.
“No need for me to go to jail today,” he told journalists at his Nkandla homestead, adding “when I saw the police here I wondered how will they get to me, how will they get through all these people”.
“If (Police Minister) Bheki Cele comes here to arrest uBaba (Zuma) he must start with us,” a supporter, Lindokuhle Maphalala, told AFP.
Via AFP.
