The decision by the Electoral Court to reinstate former president Jacob Zuma caught many by surprise. Both friends and foes have become accustomed to the former president losing almost every case in the South African courts. In the court of public opinion, Zuma is damaged goods. Indeed, no individual has suffered so much unrelenting vilification as he has.
Regarding this, Professor Brian Williams writes (The assault on Zuma’s dignity, Cape Argus, February 5, 2021):
“The sustained levels of violence, at a cultural and structural as well as institutional level, that continue to assault his human dignity is staggering. The former president of South Africa has faced public mockery, dehumanisation, and being subjected to public ridicule by an assortment of characters, some posing as experts.”
The impugned decision
