On the one hand, it’s a good thing that Jacob Zuma is being put under the microscope at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture.

On the other hand, it gives him a platform to talk complete and utter bollocks, which is then widely reported and lapped up by his supporters and defenders.

We know from his pre-Zondo commission dance moves that Zuma was putting on a brave front, and when his chance came to take the stand, he didn’t hold back.

Paranoid delusion after paranoid delusion, with a healthy dose of ‘who, me?’ thrown into the mix, spiced up with jokes that try and make light of his years of criminality – let’s get stuck in.

Here are some basics via News24:

He reverted to his tried and tested tactic of playing the victim of a grand conspiracy, telling Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo the plot against him dates back to the early 1990s.

Zuma initially implicated ANC leaders in the 1990s, senior government officials as well as the ANC’s current national executive as being party to the plot…

Apart from the victim card, he attempted to revise the Nkandla saga, dismissing the findings by Madonsela that he benefited from the Nkandla alterations…

Zuma came out guns blazing, saying: “I have been provoked and provoked … and all I wanted to do was to save the ANC and the country.”

Well, if that’s the case, then he’s a truly terrible leader.

One of the most talked-about parts of the day was when Zuma named Ngoako Ramatlhodhi, the former minister of mineral resources that Zuma hired, fired and replaced with Mosebenzi Zwane, as an apartheid spy recruited in Lesotho.

So, Zuma knew the guy was an apartheid spy, but appointed him to the position of minister of mineral resources? There are few accusations worse than calling an ANC member an apartheid spy, but given that Ramatlhodhi has spoken out about Zuma, apparently that was fair game.

Which leads us to this quote from Zuma about Ramatlhodhi:

“I watched him when he testified. He said I auctioned the country. What an exaggeration from a lawyer. He can’t tell you what I auctioned. Did I auction Table Mountain? Or auction Johannesburg? I don’t know. It’s a lie and there’s nothing of that nature.”

Back to more spy allegations and playing the victim card:

Zuma waved around a piece of paper and said he had a list of names of presumably ANC leaders who worked as apartheid and American spies.

Zuma also claimed that businessman Johann Rupert threatened to “shut down the country” if he fires Pravin Gordhan as finance minister. This was told to him by Fikile Mbalula.

Sure thing, pal.

Zuma then spoke about numerous attempts to assassinate him, including one where trained killers were flown in from overseas.

He clung onto the Guptas, saying they were friends, comrades and businesspeople. He gave their newspaper, The New Age, its name and proposed they launch a news channel.

He claimed the Guptas were better friends with former president Thabo Mbeki than he was, and they were also friends of former president Nelson Mandela.

In short, he tried to throw everyone else under the bus, and then answered that he “couldn’t recall”, “couldn’t remember” or “didn’t know” when that wasn’t possible.

You can read the full transcript of his opening statement here.

So much of what he said is clearly aimed at undermining the overall legitimacy of the commission, and the spy claims are the headline-grabbers.

The Daily Maverick has unpacked those claims in great detail, but here’s some of that analysis:

Zuma clearly intended to direct the attention of the media and the public away from the allegations related to the State Capture project by his own allegations of assassination plots, apartheid spies and an extensive conspiracy to keep him from political power…

There is no doubt that the former apartheid government’s intelligence structures were very aware of Zuma as underground MK and intelligence operator. They would have contemplated plans to kill him, recruit him or recruit sources close to him. However, there was no reason to work with any foreign intelligence service to accomplish this — in any case, security and intelligence co-operation between NIS and the CIA, for instance, was insignificant by the early 1990s…

What makes Zuma’s story even less plausible is the fact that he worked closely with numerous former NIS and SA Police decision-makers in post-apartheid South Africa — even facilitating intelligence contracts with the ANC government for some of them.

Zuma seems to be a victim of his own paranoia, possibly a result of decades of covert work — or he is constructing a version of the truth that will make it difficult for the Zondo Commission to make an unequivocal ruling against him. Whatever the case might be, the ANC will pay a price in terms of unity and political standing.

Come on, he’s just covering his tracks. At this point, he will say anything to wriggle off the hook, and his supporters will believe anything he says, so it doesn’t matter how farcical those claims are.

The show, both inside and outside the court, will continue today.

[sources:news24&dailymav]