Zumagate

South Africans are waking up to news this morning that the National Prosecuting Authority have purportedly been placed in possession of tapes, ostensibly handed over to them by the Zuma team as part of their representations to have the charges against the ANC president dropped, which include tapped telephonic conversations between inter alia former president Mbeki and former Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy which occurred just prior to and post Polokwane. This was around the time that Jacob Zuma was elected as president of the ANC and thereafter almost immediately charged with corruption and allied charges.

Before I go any further and for the benefit of foreigners and South Africans I would like to do a short damage report on the Mbeki versus Zuma fiasco: As a result of the feud between a former president of South Africa and the likely president in waiting we have witnessed the following (in no particular order): A turf war between the South African Police Service and the Scorpions resulting in the police chief, Jackie Selebi, being charged and the Scorpions being disbanded in toto; a judge president purportedly trying to influence members of the Constitutional Court and repeated threats on our judiciary; allegations of manipulation of Correctional Services and the medical profession; a split of the ANC into two parties; ANCYL, Cosatu and the SACP threatening a sitting president (of their own party), the government and the country if the candidate of their choice is prosecuted; a president recalled, loss of the head of the National Prosecuting Authority and all of this before we have even started to examine this latest nonsense.

Now we are advised that: “African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma’s legal team has telephone taps — allegedly gathered by state intelligence agencies — of conversations between a host of prominent South Africans discussing, among other things, the Zuma case. They include conversations between former president Thabo Mbeki and former Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy, according to people who were monitored. The recorded conversations include a host of other prominent players in the Zuma drama, many now involved in one way or another with ANC rival the Congress of the People, including the former head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Bulelani Ngcuka, and businessmen Saki Macozoma and Mzi Khumalo.” (Business Day)

Just to add to our damage assessment above, now factor in as well the legal profession, state intelligence agencies, members of Cope implicated in the purported criminal conspiracy, several businessmen and anyone else involved in this latest fiasco. If there is any part of the government, ruling party, Cope, the state that I’ve left out please feel free to add them in below.

In other words amidst the worst global financial crisis in living memory nearly 15 years after apartheid ended with only a fraction of the war on poverty resolved, the interests of the people of this country have to be subjugated to the egos of two men and their followers who place personal benefit and well-being above everything else. As proof thereof there is no function of state, business or even politics which is given priority over this nonsense. I’ve listed above just a portion of the damage suffered as a result of this and am left wondering whether they will ever reach a point where they consider the damage to the country or ANC a price too high to pay?

Now I’d like to put forward a few questions:

TO THE NPA

1.Do you seriously believe that in light of this that you can drop charges against Zuma without furnishing reasons?
2.Who authorised the tapping of those phones and against what criminal activity was the application made?
3.How many people implicated in the phone tapping and handing those tapes over to individuals are you planning to charge?
4.If you are dropping Zuma’s charges as a result of criminal conspiracy who are you charging in respect of that conspiracy?

TO THE ZUMA TEAM

1.Is there anything that you will not be prepared to do in order to have those charges dropped?
2.If the country was to agree to disband the ANC but give Zuma a walk would that be in order?
3.How did you come to be in possession of those recordings?
4.How long have you had them?
5.Would you consider phone tapping of a sitting president something worthy of advising the authorities of immediately?
6.When did you lay charges against the parties who committed the crimes set out in the recordings?
7.If you haven’t laid charges but alluded to evidence of this kind in the application before Nicholson can you tell us why your conduct in that court and even now does not amount to a charge of extortion?
8.If there was a criminal conspiracy could you tell us why that is an antidote to these charges of corruption? (Use legalese)

TO THE MBEKI TEAM

1.If there was a conspiracy to have Zuma charged immediately after Polokwane could you tell us when you plan to apologise to the country, resign from the ANC and set forth a plan of action on how you will try to make good the damage that this ongoing war has occasioned?
2.Would you advise the NPA now — once and for all — to charge all of those implicated in the arms deal?
3.In light of the conduct of all of those implicated in the arms deal would you not believe that it is in the interests of South Africans to arrest and then deny bail to the parties concerned? As we have seen the accused will tamper with witnesses, documents, phones etc etc. I’ve had serial killers who haven’t occasioned a fraction of the damage that these potential accused have.

TO ALL CONCERNED
1.Do you honestly believe that the recordings and the parties involved can now be suppressed?
2.Do you believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny?