Cape Town – Welcome home rallies and prayers have reportedly been planned for former president Jacob Zuma’s return to Nkandla following his controversial release from prison on medical parole.
According to IOL, Zuma’s supporters are already waiting to hear when he will leave the hospital and return to his home in Nkandla.
“We are aware that some of our members on the ground are keen and ready to host rallies to welcome president Zuma home… We support that, we are on record saying we support president Zuma and we support his medical parole.
“So, we will make all the necessary arrangements on the ground to welcome him back home, the report quoted Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) spokesperson Carl Niehaus as saying.
Meanwhile, Times Live also said last week that Zuma’s elated family members were awaiting his arrival at his homestead.
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“I feel like I am on top of the world. Ngiyagiya manje, kade ngigiya izolo abantwana bathi habe! (I was dancing yesterday and today). The kids said this elderly man is happy that his brother is coming back,” Zuma’s older brother Joseph was quoted as saying.
“When I heard the news I rushed to see his [senior] wife, [Sizakele] maKhumalo, and we spoke for a long time. She is so happy he is coming back. She told me she is thrilled. We are all happy,” Joseph said.
Joseph said “this government is full of nonsense. We have always maintained he did not deserve to be jailed. They know they were wrong from the onset. Look how all of this led to the looting and burning of infrastructure in the country.
“People told government that he is old and should not be arrested but they did not listen. They told them they should have given him house arrest.”
Zuma, who was jailed for 15 months for contempt of court after snubbing graft investigators, was on September 5, granted medical parole.
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The 79-year-old has been hospitalised since August 6 at a health facility outside the prison where he had been incarcerated for ignoring a court order to testify before a judicial panel probing corruption during his nine-year tenure which lasted until 2018.
National commissioner of correctional services Arthur Fraser admitted during an interview with SABC’s Vuyo Mvoko that he alone decided to grant medical parole to Zuma.
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), last week reportedly filed urgent papers in the North Gauteng High Court in which it wants the decision to grant Zuma medical parole to be reviewed.
According to EWN, the DA claims in the application submitted on September 10 that there was no way that Zuma could have been granted parole without Ramaphosa’s knowledge.
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The party wants the court to declare the decision unlawful and set it aside, the report said.
“We know the ANC has been looking for ways to get Mr Zuma out of jail from day one of his incarceration and now they got to use the trustee card of the medical parole they abused with Mr Schabir Shaik and Mr Selebi,” the report quoted the DA as saying.
Reports indicated that AfriForum has demanded answers from Fraser, giving him until Friday to reveal how Zuma was granted a reprieve from serving his 15-month sentence for contempt of a Constitutional Court order.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
Additional reporting by AFP
