The ANC’s Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association has warned acting prosecutions chief Mokotedi Mpshe of the economic and political turmoil South Africa will face if ANC president Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial continues.
MK vets general secretary Ayanda Dlodlo and a delegation from the association paid Mpshe a ”courtesy call” last week to tell him the association will be making formal representations to him about the corruption, racketeering and money-laundering charges Zuma faces.
”We believe that JZ was treated unfairly and that there is no way in which he can have a free and fair trial,” she told the Mail & Guardian. ”The NPA must take a decision to rescind.”
The delegation will ”outline our fears of the political, social and economic implications of the Zuma trial”, arguing that it would be irresponsible for the NPA to allow it to continue.
They will argue that there is too large a risk of social unrest; that the case is affecting South Africa’s economic outlook; that the Schabir Shaik corruption trial showed that Zuma cannot receive fair treatment at the hands of the judiciary.
Dlodlo, who resigned as deputy head of the Scorpions after being charged with fraud, is also a member of the ANC’s national executive committee.
Meanwhile, two influential business personalities argued this week that Zuma should be dropped as the ANC’s presidential candidate for next year’s election.
Businessman Saki Macozoma, aligned with President Thabo Mbeki before the ANC’s Polokwane conference, said the only solution is for the ANC to find another presidential candidate.
Said Macozoma: ”The first question is: what will a political and legal solution seek to solve? It will seek to solve, for most people, an ÂÂuncertainty caused by the charges that the ANC president is facing. Therefore, South Africans must look for a solution that will remove the uncertainty.
”I do not know how one can solve what basically is legally a problem by political means without flouting the Constitution.
”The only political solution possible lies within the ANC, which can choose another candidate and spare the country the ÂÂuncertainty.”
Click here to read former foreign affairs director general turned businessman, Sipho Pityana, as he backs Macozoma’s argument.