Johannesburg - The Defend Our Democracy movement has called for former president Jacob Zuma’s Constitutional Court judgment to be upheld.
The movement held an online rally that was attended by Reverend Frank Chikane, former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, activist Jay Naidoo and more prominent and ordinary South Africans.
This comes after Zuma was sentenced to 15 months direct imprisonment for contempt of court after the Constitutional Court handed down the decision this week.
Chikane said this week would go down in the annals of history as the week when the constitutional democracy passed the test and established the fact that no one is above the law and the constitution, whatever their status.
He said the country’s Constitutional Court unanimously made the point that if anyone was allowed to defy the courts and work outside the law, this would lead to lawlessness and thereby destabilise the country.
“We are meeting here to call on all South Africans to respect the judgement of the constitutional court. We are here to say no to any form of lawlessness, an act that would threaten the stability of the country,” said Chikane.
In this regard, we must declare that we, as the people of South Africa, will not allow anyone to destabilise this country. We need to restate again that even if everything failed, the people of South Africa will be the last line of defence.”
He said they did not celebrate anybody going to jail.
“This is a tragedy, and could have been avoided by complying with the Concourt to appear at the State Capture Commission. We need to advise those that are intending to act lawlessly that they will end up in jail,” said Chikane.
Chikane said they support the judiciary as an independent arm of state and all arms of the state to ensure that the constitutional democracy is protected.
Madonsela said: “If we could do as we want, would we be free, or live in a chaotic environment.”
Madonsela echoed Chikane’s sentiments that they do not celebrate anyone going to jail.
“The truth is the price of freedom, the price of living together in a cohesive manner requires that we be regulated, and as we are regulated, there should be institutions that hold each one of us accountable,” said Madonsela.
“It saddens me today that we are sitting here with President Zuma, whom we have dealt with as a leader of the country. Today, he has chosen to ignore the rule of law and now he faces going to jail.”
Political Bureau