[imagesource: Twitter / @DZumaSambudla]

Turn up at a restaurant opening in Cape Town and you’ll likely find the same people having a ‘whale’ of a time (provided they haven’t been banned – you know who you are).

Meanwhile, in KwaZulu-Natal, restaurant openings are seemingly able to magically cure potentially deadly ailments.

On Friday, former president Jacob Zuma teamed up with his old pal and fellow medical parolee Schabir Shaik to open Zuma, a restaurant opened by celebrity chef David Manal in Umhlanga.

The appearance comes days after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) found that Zuma’s release on medical parole was unlawful.

News24 below:

 [Zuma] was well enough to show off his dance moves at the opening of Zuma, after accepting an invitation from Manal…

Also on the guest list was Schabir Shaik, suited up, grinning, and doing a jig alongside the former president, 13 years after being granted medical parole as he was “terminally ill”…

[Zuma] smiled and posed for photos with Shaik, his former financial advisor, who was released on medical parole in 2009 after serving just more than two years of a 15-year sentence.

Advocate Dali Mpofu has argued that Zuma also suffers from an unspecified terminal illness, saying it “carries significant risk to his life”.

I guess when you both come so close to death, there’s no time to bear grudges.

Manal says the high-end restaurant is not named after the former president but is rather an international restaurant brand. Manal claims to have the trademark for South Africa.

Zuma’s daughter, Dudu Zuma-Sambudla, took a break from inciting violence on Twitter to share some footage:

The Media Thought They Would Meet On The Golf Course But They Met At Zuma Restaurant

(Now You Know I Had To Give The Haters Chest Pains…) pic.twitter.com/fHUBr0s86U

— Dudu Zuma-Sambudla (@DZumaSambudla) November 25, 2022

She’s clearly a fan of the spinning slow-motion clip:

President Zuma Had A Great Friday Night Dining Out At Zuma Restaurant… pic.twitter.com/CmuGYxXJBX

— Dudu Zuma-Sambudla (@DZumaSambudla) November 25, 2022

I Got Your Back Dad

I Don’t Care If The Whole World Is Against Us…You Got Me And I Got You pic.twitter.com/y7k7XxJMNO

— Dudu Zuma-Sambudla (@DZumaSambudla) November 27, 2022

What grates me the most is how brazen it is.

Zum and Shaik know they won’t ever be held accountable for what they did and they want to rub our noses in it.

As for Manal, you’d think these attendees might put off some potential future diners:

Manal, who calls himself the “Kitchen Gangster”, said the former president had no involvement in his restaurant and he had invited him, his wives and children as they have been “regular, reputable customers” of his.

“It was an honour to have somebody like that to do the opening with me, rather than a celebrity,” he added, acknowledging he wanted to “bring people’s attention” to his establishment.

He joked that in Arabic, Zuma means peace, which is very much opposed to what it brings to mind in this country.

Those weeks of looting and violence last year may have something to do with that, David.

Speaking of which, Zuma’s supporters have said they are planning to block his possible return to prison, reports Sunday World:

Musawenkosi Chili of Ubumbano Lwezinduna, an organisation representing izinduna (headmen), told Sunday World that “hell will break loose” should Zuma be taken back to prison.

“Mobilisation has already started in various hostels, and everyone agrees that there is a campaign to ridicule uNxamalala (Zuma). We will be his first line of defence should they want to arrest him again and we are prepared to put our bodies on the line. The message is clear ‘wathinta uZuma uzofa’ (If you touch Zuma, you will die).”

Charming.

Various taxi associations in KwaZulu-Natal have also said they will mobilise to prevent Zuma’s incarceration, with a spokesman saying that arresting him once more “would be a declaration of war”.

It must be nice to rob your country so blind that millions are left unable to see through your bullshit.

[sources:news24&sundayworld]