Warrant of arrest was issued for Jacob Zuma out of hatred, says son Edward

Edward Zuma, the eldest son of former president Jacob Zuma, on Wednesday slammed the Pietermaritzburg High Court for issuing a warrant of arrest for his father.

On Tuesday, the court issued the warrant after Zuma failed to appear in court citing ill health. Zuma had been scheduled to attend his corruption trial on Tuesday but instead, sent a doctor's letter, through his legal team, saying he would not be present on medical grounds.

The letter had a vague diagnosis and a nonexistent doctor’s practice number, and was ultimately declared as inadmissible by the court.

Judge Dhaya Pillay said the warrant was stayed until May 6 when Zuma's criminal matter is expected to go back to court.

Edward said he was angered and disgusted by what had happened - and slammed the presiding officers for having the mandate of “destroying his father”.

“I have always said, and will still say, that 'project destroy Jacob Zuma' has been in existence for years, way before 1994, and it still continues to this day. The people driving or at the helm of it, some are in the country and the rest are all over the world, especially the Western powers,” he said in a statement.

He said his father’s detractors used junior and senior politicians to further their agendas.

He labelled the judgment handed down by Pillay as “nonsensical”, and accused the judge of having proximity to people who were hell-bent on destroying Zuma.

Edward said his father had never in the past evaded the law. He said he was of the view that the warrant of arrest was unnecessary, but issued simply to damage Zuma's character.

“It was a decision taken out of hatred for the man. It’s being vindictive, vicious and very much [an] abuse of the judiciary for personal reasons.”

Edward said the incident reminded him of “old wounds”, which had not healed.

“They [are] forgetting that the old wounds have not healed, and we are gradually getting tired of them abusing the system ... Our patience is running out as we can see what is happening, however we don’t want to be tested,” he said.

He further alleged that Zuma would not get fair treatment in any level of the judiciary - and added that Zuma’s detractors had joined hands to form a religion-like structure to recruit and spread lies, with the intention of destroying Zuma’s legacy of radical economic transformation, free education and land expropriation without compensation.

“To those haters, stay in your lane people and [do] not stamp on our toes, for we shall react ... as we are tired of being made fools. We can see your western agenda,” added Edward.