ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula briefing the media after the NEC meeting. Picture: Timothy Bernard/African News Agency (ANA)
The ANC has left the Constitutional Court’s decision on former president Jacob Zuma’s sentence at the hands of government to interpret.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said they sympathise with Zuma, adding that no one would want to see an 81-year-old person going to prison, but the law is the law.
Various legal analysts have made different interpretations on the judgment, but the ball was in the court of the government how they interpret it.
A lot of factors would have to be considered when studying the decision of the constitutional court.
Mbalula also spoke out against the torching of trucks saying the people behind this must be arrested.
The SAPS has already arrested five suspects for the burning of trucks in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
More than 20 trucks were torched on the roads last week and some of the suspects will appear in court on Monday.
Mbalula said on the issue of Zuma the government would have to look at what the law says.
“We respect the courts and their outcomes. The moral perspective to it is that we empathise with president Zuma. No one wants to see anyone at the age of 81 going to jail. But in this instance the law is the law and government must deal with the pros and cons and interpret the judgment,” said Mbalula.
There have been different interpretations from analysts on what the judgment says.
He said the ANC respects the court judgments and if they are not pleased with them they challenge them.
The ANC secretary-general also called on the security cluster to be on high alert.
This comes as fears mounted that the July 2021 riots could be repeated.
He said the 2021 riots should not have happened because the state needed to stamp its authority and maintain stability.
Crime Intelligence must also do its work and ensure they identify problems before they get out of hand.
“In terms of the security cluster, its job is to maintain law and order and ensure that nothing can culminate into acts of economic sabotage and lawlessness because those acts tarnish the authority of the state that we are a lawless society.
“What happened in July (2021) should not have happened. You apply the rule of law in terms of the state, you clamp down on anarchy. The first thing that happens, you clamp down on anarchy. The same as with the torching of trucks. Crime Intelligence must do its work. We must find these people who are torching trucks and deal with it from the point of view of stamping the authority of the state,” said Mbalula.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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