Former president Jacob Zuma deserves to go back to jail to finish his term. Chris Hani’s killer Janusz Waluś deserves to be freed and benefit from the freedom Hani died for.
To do this demonstrates that we, the freedom-loving people of South Africa, are unlike Waluś. We believe in the justness of the justice system. To release Waluś is neither to justify nor condone what he did. It is to be mature enough to do the right thing, however painful that feels.
Similarly, to jail Zuma isn’t to celebrate a freedom fighter’s fall from grace. It is to acknowledge a democratic system that must be respected by all, regardless of our stations in society. To imprison an 80-year-old former president sends a message to all and sundry that the era of impunity is not just over, but that a freedom fighter and a petty vagrant are treated the same before the law.
Let me say this again: it is OK to send Zuma back to jail while releasing a verkrampte fellow who has served his time. We do not need to be emotional about these things. And it’s hard, I’m certain, for someone like Limpho Hani and her children, having lost a husband and a father who, arguably, could have gone on to become one of this country’s presidents.
Overcome with anger and rage at the decision of the Constitutional Court, Limpho Hani unleashed a few expletives then told us chief justice Raymond Zondo would still be staying in a shack had her husband not been assassinated. In other words, without Chris, this democracy would not have happened. Yeah, I know!
Yes, Chris was one of the best this country produced. A real revolutionary. Not like the communists we have today, such as Blade Nzimande, caught on camera giggling his lungs away at the royals in Britain this week. Or Cyril Ramaphosa being wowed simply because the king of the English rehearsed greetings in African languages. Wow, oh wow, did King Charles just say “molo, ndaa, matsheloni”.
Regardless of how heavy it is on our hearts, regardless of how much of an unreconstructed racist we think Waluś is, no matter how unrepentant he is, if the law says he should be released, so must he.
No, Chris Hani is what our struggle for freedom was about. He is the guy who would have had a substantive discussion about what the Brits stole from Africa and what reparations must be paid back. Not merely for the environmental damage. Chris Hani embodies ordinary people’s yearning for a just order. He, we hope, would have done something about the fact that ours is a mineral-rich country, yet the majority remains food and asset poor, many unable to afford mere credit. He put the people first. He was in it to serve, not to be served. This is why Chris’s callous killing by Waluś brought many of us to tears. That is why we are emotional about Chris Hani.
Truth is we must stop.
It is like asking black people to be methodical and emotionless about this white lady caught on audio saying pit bulls deserve warm beds and food, while black men must be castrated and black women’s uteruses removed so they don’t procreate and that the black race couldn’t have been made by God. In our response, we cry “racist”. And it’s understandable.
The bigger question for the insulted is: what can you, individually and collectively, do about it? Are you contributing to a solution, or are you in a corner somewhere just unleashing expletives too? The Jews have a system that goes after those who are anti-Semitic. That is a form of self-love. The Afrikaners pay a stipend to Solidarity and AfriForum or some such organisations that take up their battles. When black people learn to suspend emotions and come up with sustainable solutions to their grief, this country will be on course.
Today, though, some black people want to tell us the greatest injustice is Zuma going back to jail. They’re prepared to get violent.
As a consequence, others tell us, we must not talk about the fact that a former freedom fighter (Zuma) is ordered to go to jail while an anti-democracy assassin goes free. You’re inflaming the situation and forgetting we had riots in July 2021, they say. Nonsense.
First, if we get the repeat of the riots, we have no country. We may as well just close shop and stop pretending. Second, those riots were less about Zuma than an opportunity that was created for poor, hungry people by an organised criminal syndicate. Third, Zuma almost mortgaged our entire country to the Gupta brothers, who have since become fugitives from justice, in the grandest corruption scheme hitherto unseen. He ceased being a freedom fighter and became a source of shame.
In the end, we must be able to leave emotions at the door. It is understandable that this is a Herculean task. Regardless of how heavy it is on our hearts, regardless of how much of an unreconstructed racist we think Waluś is, no matter how unrepentant he is, if the law says he should be released, so must he.
Keeping him in jail two more months or three more years won’t bring our beloved Chris Hani back. Keeping Waluś in jail forever serves no purpose. Our fairness must be extended even to people we don’t like, people who have caused us unimaginable pain.
Similarly, even if you like Msholozi, a self-taught man from rural Nkandla who pulled himself up from poverty to become the country’s number one. We must still throw the book back at him. He went off the rails. He must face the music (not that Mshini Wam song)! To do so is not to hate him but to love our country more.
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