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As soon as the Constitutional Court sentenced Jacob Zuma to 15 months in prison, South Africa knew it was in for a rollercoaster few days.

The former president has been given five days to present himself to police, in order to begin his jail term, but it was never going to be that simple.

For one, Zuma’s family members and supporters have said they are willing to die to protect him, and a small group of Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA) members are currently camped outside Nkandla.

It’s not known if Zuma is actually at Nkandla, and his son, Edward, has implied he may not be, telling News24 “I can say he is in South Africa.”

Now Zuma himself has weighed in on the ConCourt ruling, via the Jacob G Zuma Foundation, saying it was “judicially emotional and not consistent with our constitution”.

TimesLIVE reports:

In a statement released shortly after 11.30pm on Wednesday, the Jacob G Zuma Foundation said the former president believed that the majority judgment, delivered by acting chief justice Sisi Khampepe, showed that the country’s courts did not act independently and without bias…

In the statement, the foundation said it was speaking to its legal advisers “on the options available” to Zuma.

The foundation was critical of the court’s majority judgment’s comment that Zuma “attacked” the Constitutional Court, saying this was “utterly false”…

“The characterisation of our patron [Zuma] by the majority panel paints a picture of a very angry panel of judges,” the statement read.

The most stinging rebuke was aimed at state commission chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, and the commission as a whole, with enough spice to make the Nando’s Zuma joke seem mild by comparison:

The statement also repeated Zuma’s open criticism of the commission, saying that it was being conducted in a biased manner and had been “transformed into a slaughterhouse and a forum in which all manner of defamatory allegations have been made against” Zuma.

Let’s not forget that over the past year or so, Zuma has accused the Zondo Commission of being involved in a political plot against him, and likened the Constitutional Court to the apartheid government.

He who laughs last, Jacob.

Security measures aimed at protecting Zondo and his family members are expected to be beefed up in the coming days.

If you’re so inclined, here’s that statement in full:

TO: ALL MEDIA
Subject: JG Zuma Foundation response to the Justice Khampepe judgment.
Sincere apologies for the delay. https://t.co/tghJMyO6Hp pic.twitter.com/5XU4J0TvMW

— JGZuma Foundation (Official) (@JGZ_Foundation) June 30, 2021

The most important thing to remember, as his foundation and supporters sling mud wherever they can, is that their words don’t hold much weight.

The foundation can chat to legal advisers “on the options available” to Zuma all it wants, but the highest court in the land has spoken.

[source:timeslive]