On August 6, former South African President Jacob Zuma was hospitalized. Officially, it was a routine check. Justice calls for a medical second opinion.
His hearing was to take place on August 10. Jailed for contempt of justice, former South African president Jacob Zuma had surrendered himself to the police. After a first videoconference hearing devoted to this first case, the next one was to take place physically and publicly, about alleged facts of corruption and money laundering. The Pietermaritzburg High Court has finally postponed the trial until the beginning of next September. But the hospitalization of the former head of state was it real or does it enter into the strategy of the Zuma camp, which has set up a "defense of Stalingrad" since the start of the hearings.
Zuma's supporters, his family and friends, ensure that the ex-president had to go to the hospital. They denounce the difficult conditions of his imprisonment and recall the health problems from which the political leader suffers, as well as his advanced age - 79 years. For their part, last week, the prison authorities assured that the passage of Zuma to the hospital was done as part of a "routine observation". To critics of the accused, this all strangely resembles a strategy.
The Department of Corrections assures in a statement that “every detained person, including any sentenced prisoner, has the right to conditions commensurate with human dignity. Including regular medical observation ”. Justice could not therefore prevent Jacob Zuma from being sent to the hospital for a routine check-up. The foundation of the former president, if it called for "not to be alarmed", confirms for its part the "routine check".
Can we change this to Zuma strategy? 👇🏽
Stalingrad legal defense is a strategy used by a defendant to wear down the plaintiff / legal proceedings by appealing every ruling unfavorable to the defendant and using whatever other means possible to delay proceedings #ZumaTrial #DaliMpofu- Anzo (@ Anzo26) July 19, 2021
A request for a medical second opinion
In addition to the prison sentence he is currently serving, Zuma is involved in two separate cases. He is accused of having received funds from the French armaments company Thalès. In this case, several parties would be involved, namely senior officials of the South African government, but also the former French presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. Another case still awaits a court appearance by Zuma: that of embezzlement of public funds and money laundering, in which the Gupta brothers, bosses of the politico-financial empire of the same name, are also accused. Two sensitive cases.
While the defense relies on medical confidentiality so as not to have to disclose the real cause of Jacob Zuma's hospitalization, Judge Piet Koen has just ordered a medical second opinion. The South African state will have to appoint a doctor of its choice to examine the former president. “The doctor's letter does not identify at all the pathology from which he suffers, and says rather puzzledly, that it was a condition which required extensive emergency procedures, which were delayed by 18 months ”, indicates the lawyer of the Public Prosecutor's Office, who seems skeptical as to the reality of the health concerns of Jacob Zuma. The conclusions of the second opinion are due on August 20. We will then know if Jacob Zuma is fit to participate in his trial or if it will have to be postponed once again.