Cape Town – Former South African president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Jabu Zuma, has taken a swipe at supermodel Naomi Campbell after she wrote a scathing open letter to her father about his defiance of the courts and the state of the country.
In a letter that she posted to Instagram on Friday, Campbell blamed Zuma for the recent violence and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng that resulted in the destruction of property and businesses.
This, she said threatened to undo what South Africans, including former president Nelson Mandela had fought for.
“This isn’t the South Africa I remember and that millions of South Africans fought for. The South Africa that overcame apartheid, showed the world that change was possible. Led the battle in the fight against HIV/Aids and has weathered countless efforts to undermine the new South Africa,” she wrote.
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“I have watched how over the last few years you have protested your innocence at the allegations tabled against you of corruption and allowing mass state capture. I have seen you go out of your way to avoid having to deal with these matters in court and avoid a commission set up to investigate state capture.”
Campbell continued, as she aired her views about the recent violence.
“…These actions not only saw hundreds lose their lives and property be destroyed. But its effects will now be felt by many millions more. Each day you defy the courts and stoke division you take a step backwards from Madiba’s vision for South Africa to prosper and for there not only be equitable political justice but also economic justice,” she wrote.
Zuma’s incarceration sparked riots and looting that escalated into the worst violence since the end of apartheid, killing more than 300 people, according to the official count.
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Zuma, 79, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court in June after snubbing graft investigators probing his presidency.
He turned himself in on July 8 at Estcourt Correctional Centre, around an hour’s drive from his rural Nkandla home.
Zuma is also on trial for allegedly taking kickbacks from an arms deal with several international companies in 1999, when he was deputy president.
He fervently denies any wrongdoing.
But in a lengthy response to Campbell shared on Twitter by her sister Duduzile Zuma, Jabu, accused the supermodel of linking arms with “warlords and blood diamonds”, in reference to Charles Taylor the former president of Liberia.
Jabu said Campbell knew nothing about South Africa’s history or the sacrifices made by her father towards the country’s democracy.
READ THE FULL POST HERE
So Proud Of My Sister Jabu Zuma For This Powerful Piece “Dear Naomi Campbell” #NaomiCampbell pic.twitter.com/cp4KV1wAhe
— Dudu Zuma-Sambudla (@DZumaSambudla) July 31, 2021
“What you remember SA to be is not and has never been a reflection of the true SA.
“If you had actually been watching president Zuma over the last few years as you claim, you will be well aware of the fact that all he has ever called for was a fair trial. He has been more than willing to stand in front of a court and prove his innocence,” Jabu said.
She denied that her father was evading the state capture commission.
ALSO READ | ‘It’s painful to see Jacob Zuma behind bars but laws must be followed’
“President Zuma has never had an issue with appearing before the commission, he’s done so previously. His issue lies with having to appear before deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo,” said Jabu, highlighting that the two had a close personal relationship and therefore a conflict of interest existed. Zondo has denied these claims.
“Zondo recuses himself, Zuma goes to the commission. Simple,” she said.
Jabu also wrote about the violence and looting in the country’s two provinces following Zuma’s incarceration.
“The civil unrest is bigger than president Zuma’s arrest. South Africans are hungry, impoverished, unemployed and tired of living whereby the government marginalises them. As history shows, when the poor have nothing else to eat they eat the rich,” she said.
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By Betha Madhomu
