What you said: As Zuma waits for high court verdict, Mpofu 'fails to impress'

Advocate Dali Mpofu “failed to impress” during his argument in defence of former president Jacob Zuma at the Pietermaritzburg high court on Tuesday.

This is according to TimesLIVE readers who voted on the poll which questioned whether his argument was strong enough. Mpofu was representing the former president in an urgent application to stay an arrest order against Zuma. 

Just more than 76% said Mpofu “didn't do justice to his reputation,” and 10.48% said “he made several good points”. About 13% reserved their comments, saying they would wait for the ruling. 

This after Zuma was found guilty of contempt of a Constitutional Court ruling that said he must testify at the state capture inquiry. He was sentenced to 15 months in jail.

The former president also applied for a rescission of the apex court's judgment which will be heard on July 12.

Mpofu told high court judge Bhekisisa Mnguni that if the court did not grant the stay of arrest, Zuma would be subjected to a human rights violation.

Advocate Max du Plessis, on behalf of the Helen Suzman Foundation, said Zuma was not a victim, as he had defied the state capture commission several times.

Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who argued for the state capture inquiry, said Zuma was a repetitive lawbreaker. 

“We have a  strange scenario in which your lordship has been asked to suspend the order of a superior court, we should reject that,” Ngcukaitobi added..

Mnguni will hand down his ruling on Friday.

Zuma began serving his sentence after handing himself over to authorities late on Wednesday night. He was booked into the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal.