In summary, Jabu Zuma told Campbell she was not qualified
to speak on Zuma's affairs.
In her open letter posted on Instagram, Campbell had
alleged that the recent looting and destruction of scores of businesses in
KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng had threatened to undo what the late former president
Nelson Mandela had fought hard to achieve. She blamed this on Zuma.
“Each day you defy the courts and stoke division, you take
a step backwards from Madiba’s vision for SA to prosper and for there to not
only be equitable political justice but also economic justice,” Campbell wrote.
She said the recent scenes which made global headlines were
not the SA that had been exemplary to the rest of the world and called for Zuma
to end his defiance.
“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 said.
“You have talked of the rule of law and the SA constitution
being something that should apply to everyone. Yet you defied the courts and
were sentenced to 15 months in prison. Now upon your incarceration a group of
protests under the #FreeZuma banner broke out igniting the worst violence and
criminality SA has seen since the end of apartheid. These actions not only saw
hundreds lose their lives and property destroyed, but its effects will now be
felt by many millions more. This affects the millions of hard-working and
peaceful South Africans, many of whom have suffered over the last year because
of Covid,” Campbell added.
But Jabu criticised Campbell, suggesting she knew nothing
of SA history or the sacrifices made by her father towards SA’s democracy.
“What you remember SA to be is not and has never been a
reflection of the true SA,” she said in the letter, which was shared by one of
the more vocal of Zuma’s children, Duduzile, on her Twitter page.
“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 said many of the delays in Zuma’s court appearances
were as a result of the state calling for postponements, except for a few
incidents where Zuma missed appearances because of incidents beyond his
control.
She denied that her father was evading the state capture
commission.
“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,” Jabu elaborated. She also called for the same vigour to be directed
towards all those who had also refused to give evidence to the commission.
On the looting and unrest that followed in the days after
Zuma’s incarceration, Jabu said that unrest was beyond her father.
“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,” Jabu added, highlighting what she claimed to be
failures of the current government under the leadership of President Cyril
Ramaphosa.
Jabu said Campbell was in no position to share her views on
Zuma’s vision and his part in the struggle for democracy.
“You’re simply not qualified and must be deluded to think
you could ever (make recommendations on what Zuma should do),” Jabu concluded.
TimesLIVE
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