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ZUMA A FACT OF HISTORY, A SUBJECT OF COMPASSION. THIS IS WHAT THE RULE OF LAW IS

Zuma's biography has taken a dramatic turn, now etching his name into the annals of South African history as a former president arrested under a Ramaphosa presidency. This is a significant moment, a testament to the individual nature of the law's consequences. Once it sets its sights on you, there's no escaping its reach. 

Having worked at correctional services, he will be out sooner than we think if the orders are meticulously followed. There is a matrix of systems; if efficiently applied, a month might be too long. He is, by definition, a community corrections candidate. It’s a pity it has to come to this, but our constitutional democracy is a winner. We might have views about the merits or otherwise of the judgement, but the system fell in place when the judgement was made. 

The system of corrections is now the one that must show the compassion of the State as an institution. Bureaucratic discretion is the next terrain in the state that is called to be compassionate. The State as a whole acts according to roles accorded. The Judiciary had an obligation to adjudicate on his contempt of court. Had he gone to argue in mitigation of the sentence, the compassion of its adjudicative form would have been seen. His abstentions courted its clinical response to his 'transgressions' and appropriately responded to the prayers of the complainant.

Once judgement was passed, the policing side of the State was called to action. The state, as police, was ready to enforce the judgment if Jacob Zuma did not cooperate. The state’s might was thus mobilized if he did not surrender himself to the police. In surrendering, he courted the compassion of the state as police, and he did not experience its clinical side when there was no cooperation.

It is my view and opinion that if he cooperated with the corrections phases of the state, he would experience its compassion and recognition of his age. We have a democracy that has systems. We are now at the mercy of those systems. I repeat he should approach this as an individual; he cannot act as a representative, and the consequences of his actions are now profoundly individual. . 

🤷🏽‍♂️ A ndzo ti vulavulela

🤷🏽‍♂️ Be ngisho nje 

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