EDITORIAL: Ramaphosa faces new risk over Zuma judgment

Former correctional services commissioner Arthur Fraser acted unlawfully by releasing Jacob Zuma early — and now the Supreme Court of Appeal says the former president must return to jail. 

It couldn’t have happened at a worse time for the ANC — or to a more deserving person. 

Zuma was defiant as the term of his medical parole ended in October, addressing the media and declaring that he is not — as Fraser would have us believe — on his deathbed. He also gallingly made himself available for the position of ANC chair when the party elects new leaders next month. 

If Zuma eventually runs out of road and he has to go back to jail, it’s possible that his supporters will call for the country to be burned down again— a repeat of the protests last July that cost the economy billions and led to the deaths of more than 300 people. We’d like to believe that won't happen again, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.

Therein lies the risk for President Cyril Ramaphosa, who looks set for re-election to the party presidency. The test, for him, is whether his government will be as woefully unprepared to deal with the fallout as it was last year.

Any further shocks to the economy and loss of life over a disgraced former president would be detrimental to Ramaphosa’s already hobbling administration. 

Note: This story has been altered to correct the fact that it was not Jacob Zuma himself who called for the country to be burned, as the original story implied, but rather certain of his supporters who stoked the violence. We apologise for the error.