Some political analysts say former president Jacob Zuma will have difficulty dealing with his legal woes post his tenure as African National Congress (ANC) leader and Head of state.
Prosecutors involved in Zuma’s corruption case have until Friday to finalise their decision as to whether or not to prosecute him.
National Director of Public Prosecutions (NPA), Shaun Abrahams, gave prosecutors until Friday to provide him with their recommendations on the long-standing matter.
Zuma submitted his representations to the NPA last month as to why he should not be prosecuted.
This follows a court ruling which set aside a 2009 decision by former acting NPA boss, Mokotedi Mpshe, to drop charges against him.
Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni says Zuma is now on his own.
“In all likelihood the charges are going to be revived against him because Shaun Abrahams is under tremendous pressure at this moment, also knowing that his own job is on line. And the second part is that once such case starts, president Zuma may not expect the same political support that he saw when he ascended to power, much so because he is no longer the incumbent now, and also some people may make calculations to say if more revelations come in the state capture, will we be able to sustain the support despite everything that comes up.”
Another political analyst, Ralph Mathekga, says while not all charges might be reinstated, Zuma is likely to face the law on some counts.
“If you look at some of the information that that NPA throw in the media, they seem to be hinting that some of the charges might be reinstated, not all of them possibly. But one way or the other it points to the president having to face those; so as long as this is a possibility we are going to see president Zuma trying to rally support within the party. There is no doubt he is no longer in control of the party. But that does not mean he will not use some chapters of the party to try to push against that at least in the court of public opinion to be seen as someone who has that kind of support.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) federal chairperson James Selfe says, “Our expectation is that the NPA must reinstate the charges, that there may in-fact be more charges that they wish to add to the charge sheet, and that if the NPA decide not to continue with the prosecution they have undertaken to give Mr Zuma’s representation to us because will most certainly take that decision under review.”
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