LETTER: Please come clean now, Mr Zuma

The utterances of, and palpable relief shown by, former president Jacob Zuma on hearing that his prison days are numbered, presupposes that he believes he has been let off the hook from the looming arms deal charges. And not forgetting his alleged nefarious association with the Guptas.

If this proves to be the case we’ll be forgiven for concluding the whole protracted shebang was a sham, an example of a serious miscarriage of justice. Allow me, a mediocre old hack (a label bestowed on me by Zuma’s camouflage-clad buddy Carl Niehaus) to ask Zuma a few straightforward questions, the answers to which could give him the benefit of the doubt. Or nail him to the wall.

• Mr Zuma, were you ever in a financial relationship with Schabir Shaik? Were you on his payroll as compensation for assisting in procuring the arms deal?
• Were you in any way associated with the Gupta brothers, who are accused of bringing the country to its knees?
• Do you know of other ANC ministers or cadres who were party to the two situations?
• If your answer is no to all of these, why (1) your refusal to  appear before the Zondo state capture commission to clear your name once and for all, and (2) why by now haven’t you sued the pants off your accusers?

Zuma owes it to a nation struggling to survive economically as a result of state capture to come clean. That would be true democracy in action, not the one torn to shreds by him and his party.

Cliff Buchler
Claremont

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