ZUMA TRIAL
KARYN MAUGHAN: Former president’s victim narrative has a smidgen of merit
Once the most powerful man in SA, former president Jacob Zuma has insistently defined himself as a victim, whether in the court room or the political arena. He accused former president Thabo Mbeki and his followers of driving the corruption and rape cases against him, telling the Supreme Court in Mauritius that the decision to charge him with corruption was part of a "carefully orchestrated, politically inspired and driven strategy to exclude me from any meaningful political role".That strategy, he claimed, was driven by his concern for "the masses and the poor", which prompted his political enemies to try to deny him the ANC leadership and the state presidency. Now that Zuma faces the prospect of going on trial for long-dormant corruption charges, his narrative of victimhood is likely to intensify. At the Easter weekend he told churchgoers in Durban that he continued to be "persecuted" after resigning as president. "Anyone who is being oppressed in different ways and accepts the op...
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