We are two days into Jacob Zuma’s testimony at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture, and the former president shows no signs of taking any blame for what happened under his watch.

Day one was dominated by talk of assassination attempts and apartheid spies, and it should be plain for all to see that Zuma is attempting to undermine the credibility of the commission itself.

Whilst his supporters gobble it all up, hanging on his every word, cough and chuckle, the sane amongst us can recognise bollocks when we see it.

I would include Zapiro in the latter, and his latest cartoon, appearing on the Daily Maverick, hits the nail on the head:

Nice to see the showerhead back after Zapiro’s last zinger, the EFF ‘trash champagne revolutionaries’.

If Survivor’s motto is ‘Outwit, Outplay, Outlast’, then Zuma’s is ‘Dodge, Distract, Deny’.

Some of his attempts to dodge can be seen in this TimesLIVE video below:

So what are the analysts saying? Well, to start, here’s a wrap from TimesLIVE:

Ajay Gupta ‘had nothing to do with what happens in government’ – Jacob Zuma

The Gupta brothers had nothing to do with deciding appointments to government, Zuma told the state capture inquiry earlier on Tuesday.

He denied that any member of the Gupta family had knowledge of who would be appointed or fired from his cabinet during his tenure as the head of state…

Asked if his relationship with the Guptas warranted Ajay to suggest who should be appointed to cabinet, Zuma said: “No, not at all. He had nothing to do with what happens in government.”

Zuma blames the late Collins Chabane over Themba Maseko redeployment

Earlier on Tuesday, Zuma denied playing any part in removing Themba Maseko as Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) chief executive in 2011, allegedly after Maseko declined to co-operate with businessman Ajay Gupta.

Zuma said he never instructed then-minister in the presidency Collins Chabane to have Maseko [below] removed.

Chabane died in a car accident in March 2015.

Maseko previously told the commission that he was driving to the North West in November 2010 when he received a call from Gupta, demanding that he meet managers at The New Age newspaper the next day to discuss the redirecting of government advertising spend to the family’s media asset.

Classy. Blame the guy that’s passed away.

Des van Rooyen to ANC: investigate Zuma’s spy allegations  

The ANC must investigate the spy allegations against some of its senior leaders which have surfaced in the evidence presented by former president Jacob Zuma.

This is the view of former co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Des van Rooyen [below] as he reflected on Zuma’s evidence given on Monday.

“These are very sensitive revelations. Many people lost their lives. Those that we led lost their lives because of informers. To have such people being labelled informers is a very serious allegation. These people were given responsibilities in government and in the ANC,” Van Rooyen said.

Nice to see the weekend minister getting his five minutes of fame again. Sorry, Des, we all know how you got your job.

Death threat 

Zuma says his life was threatened after he appeared before the state capture inquiry for the first time on Monday.

Before proceedings started on Tuesday, the former president informed Zondo that his personal assistant had received a call on Monday night.

Here’s the moment he claims to have had his life threatened:

Death threats are no laughing matter, but I struggle to believe anything this man says.

So, what could we see on day three in way of questioning? Here’s a little recap and look ahead.

Follow the money: Jacob Zuma faces questions over key departments

Zuma is facing questions at the judicial inquiry relating to allegations he colluded with the Gupta network to enable the looting of the public purse…

Once the commission has completed quizzing Zuma on Maseko’s evidence, it will then move on to allegations set against Zuma by other witnesses who have previously appeared before the commission.

Evidence leader Paul Pretorius said on Monday that Zuma would be asked questions relating to evidence given to the commission by public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor, former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, former public enterprises minister Barbara Hogan, former public service and administration minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi, his adviser Mahlodi Muofhe, former Bosasa executive Angelo Agrizzi and transport minister Fikile Mbalula.

I reckon we’re in for a lot more ‘I don’t remember’ and ‘I cannot recall’.

Let’s finish with the man with the sharpest tongue of all, the Daily Maverick’s Richard Poplak, unloading on Zuma, the “Suicide-Bomber-in-Chief”.

I will try and keep this brief:

…good luck getting anything out of Msholozi. He is sitting this week before the State Capture Inquiry, spinning Reality into an unrecognisable splat of protoplasm. He has chosen the Zondo commission — an institution he was bound to create by the previous Public Protector (more on that office in a minute) — to cast himself as a simpering victim of plots, vapours, potions, witchcraft, assassins, spy-craft, misinformation, dry skin and general unkindliness.

Men and women are compelled to govern for all sorts of reasons. Zuma became president to stay out of jail. He needn’t have bothered — the South African elite, of which Zuma is very much a member, has never done time for any infraction. That said, now that his tenure has met its ignominious end, he’s clearly nervous about the possibilities of landing up in the slammer…

…his statements are so childishly outsized that they beggar belief. But already they’re circulating on social media forums, insinuating themselves into the biochemistry of the fightback narrative. This was the point: on the weekend before his testimony began, Twitter was working overtime to lay the groundwork, with the EFF trolls leading the way. The fallen men of the ANC, they are saying, are victims of a three-decade conspiracy with its roots in the apartheid regime. We must pity these men, not imprison them…

The South African system, with its rule of law, is designed to filter out crooks and shysters. And yet, the crooks and shysters are in the process of not just changing the system to find a way in, but of altering Reality to centre their victimhood. It’s a heinous thing to watch, and they need to be reminded that the real victims are on the streets, swamped by one of the world’s highest unemployment rates in a vastly unequal society — a situation that Zuma must be made to answer for, preferably from a jail cell.

Sadly, there seems to be zero chance of Zuma ending up in the slammer, and his supporters’ heads are so far buried in the sand that they will never see the light.

He will continue to spew absurd accusations, throwing fellow struggle stalwarts under the bus while he’s at it, hoping something sticks.

For that, he will be called out, but probably never held to account.

[sources:dailymav&timeslive&dailymav]