Suing the media a lucrative side line for Jacob Zuma?

[garthu]

yoh! the comments on that article are hectic.

Haha!! I suddenly feel like a passivist! Nice to see we can all have our opinion, respect the opinion and carry on... sounds like a few of those guys are ready to go to war

[Dave A]

What I find odd is I've swung the other way on JZ too - but it's in the opposite direction.

After Polokwane, I was going "Yep. JZ probably took the money. But he still could be a much better president than Mbeki." And that was way before all the recent revelations on what Comrade Thabo was actually up to.

There were signs that JZ was not nearly as dogmatic as Mbeki. JZ seemed open to new thoughts and ideas, prepared to consult, prepared to look at issues from outside of his own paradigm.

However, I'm no longer that optimistic. JZ has got off the hook using abuse of power, not just Thabo's abuse but JZ's abuse of power too. We have just witnessed a cynical subversion of the legal machinery in this country that rivals that of the NP in its heyday.

This goes beyond Director Mpshe and his pathetic pandering to the new elite. It goes back to Pikoli, the one NPA boss who had clearly shown that he wasn't very good at taking orders from Luthuli House. Mbeki had Pikoli suspended. JZ saw to it that Pikoli was fired. Inserting a caretaker president to clear the path was a stroke of genius.

When it comes to tampering with the judiciary, at first JZ sent messages in the form of Judge Hlope. But such is his confidence now, JZ wants to "engage" the judges of the Constitutional Court directly.

He is even starting to buy into his party's propaganda.

Up until the recent dropping of the corruption charges, JZ never claimed he was innocent, only that the charges were unfair - something that I could accept as being an honest appraisal of the situation. That day after the charges were dropped, when he announced he was innocent when all tested evidence indicates otherwise - that's when I started feeling we could be in real trouble here.

I'm afraid when it comes to "working the system," JZ makes Mbeki look like an amateur.

[garthu]

Sadly i agree. One positive point, proven from the past is we could all be wrong anyway as millions have been in the past. Thabo came, doom and gloom was painted prior, even with Nelson, many painted a nasty picture. Certainly wrong with Nelson, and it could have been far worse with TM. Maybe we wrong

But i doubt it. I know things are getting out of control when i start considering options in Zim again... especially as i often use it as a comparison for the bad and ugly...

[Dave A]

It looks like M&G is going to settle over the rapist quote case.

The Guardian was negotiating a settlement with ANC president Jacob Zuma's lawyers over a comment it says it published by mistake, a spokesperson said on Monday.

"The position at the weekend, was that it was a mistake," said David Leigh, investigations editor.

The action relates to an article by Simon Jenkins setting the scene for Wednesday's elections, headlined "Get used to a corrupt and chaotic South Africa. But don't write it off".

Jenkins opens with comments about the beauty of Cape Town's scenery, writing: "I could not resist the old Afrikaner cliché that this was God's own country."

He then follows with a quote from a unnamed companion who calls Zuma a rapist.
full story from M&G here