Speaking during a virtual gathering on Sunday, Zuma said
the country's laws took a “soft” stance, even against those who commit heinous
crimes.
“For an example, today, if I commit a crime, if I kill a
somebody in front of all of you, the laws of this country say you can't say
this person is being arrested or charged because he's killed a person, it says
we must say we suspect this man has killed this person. That's the softness of
the law.
“Today, if I committed a crime, no matter how serious, I
have a right to apply for bail,” he said.
He added: “I think our laws are not biting enough. They are
not dealing with people enough. For example, people who were sentenced to life
imprisonment, it is always known they will be out in 20 years.”
The former president was speaking during the ANC's virtual umrhabulo session, under the theme
“Social cohesion and the national question”.
Meeting convener Jeff Radebe said the purpose of the
engagement was to discuss one of 12 national general council (NGC) papers,
which could not happen in person due to Covid-19.
Zuma was a keynote speaker and part of panellists which
included Dr Abba Omar, Lindiwe Maseko, Steven Friedman and Dr Thozama
April.
Friedman, a renowned activist and author, completely
dismissed the notion of social cohesion, which he argued sought to portray
everybody the same way.
“If we don't mean that everybody is the same, then let's
not use terms which imply that everybody's the same.
“More important for the country going forward, what I'm
trying to say in a nutshell, is that difference is good as long as it does not
lead to domination. Our problem is not difference, it is domination. Our
problem is that many white folks use their power to oppress black people, and
that is what we need to be discussing,” he said.
During the event, Zuma also took a swipe at parliamentary
proceedings which have, on various occasions, been disrupted by MPs.
He slammed the often poor behaviour, saying it was not
reflective of the country's citizens and did not contribute positively towards
nation building.
“There is less content in the discussion of how do we move
forward, building a nation and a cohesive society. That debate is not there in
parliament. They [MPs}] are not necessarily, in my view, representing the
citizens who are looking at them wanting to hear what hopes they give and the
progress they have made,” said Zuma.
However, only voters who placed those members in parliament
could hold them to account, according to Zuma.
“We think in order to deal with some issues we need to
shout, use insults at times, which I don't think reflects on social cohesion.
Those who elect the people, I don’t think they are strict enough to say, 'You
are not doing what we sent you to do there, because we sent you to discuss
programmes to change quality of life of our people that will go a long way in
influencing cohesion and nation building.
“What that means is people should respect others, should be
able to raise issues properly. But people think they are there to fight. The
correction of that lies in the voters represented by them,” he said. Sowetan
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