Ntsiki Mazwai asks for Jacob Zuma to be released from prison in open letter

Poet and media personality Ntsiki Mazwai has pleaded with the powers that be to release former president Jacob Zuma in an open letter she penned following the unrest allegedly in response to his imprisonment.

In an essay posted to WordPress, Ntsiki said Zuma “should” be released from prison as the legal process was adulterated during the former president’s trial. After the former leader was jailed for contempt of court, violent protests erupted across SA and are continuing. 

Ntsiki wrote that the black people of the country were suffering because the constitution supposedly didn’t have their best interests at heart. 

“What is transpiring before us is that we as black people are actually in the same position we were before 1994. We have no voice or say in what happens in our lives. It is written down for us in the constitution. Written down by whom? Why are we said to have the best constitution in the world (by white people) when we black people live in a state of poverty?”

The star said at the heart of it all, the constitution does not benefit marginalised black people and has continued to perpetuate a broken system. She said even though he is far from innocent, with the justice system’s misguided attempts at persecuting Zuma one should consider not jailing him in the first place.

She pointed out to her readers that she is in no way showing support for Zuma, and that she is in fact an ardent adversary of the former president.

“The penny dropped for me. 1994 was a farce. We are a joke. The only thing we beg is that the Constitutional Court own up to its oversight of interfering and ignoring processes and release the old man. We all know he is not innocent, but your approach was misguided. Own it. Release the old man and let him speak to his people to calm the f*** down, ” wrote Ntsiki.

Read the essay here.

Ntsiki often weighs in on the political landscape of the nation. Earlier this year, the personality clapped back at claims she once wanted to “impose” herself as the EFF  women’s league president, claiming no woman in the party had as much influence as she did.

The star was the talk of social media over the weekend when a tweep dug up Ntsiki’s old tweets about the party.

“It all started here when Ntsiki Mazwai wanted to impose herself as an EFF women’s league head,” captioned the tweep.

Ntsiki hit back, saying she remains a star “with or without the EFF”.

“You’re still hurting. You can still feel my power, as no woman in the EFF has as much influence as me in SA, and they never will. I was not made by my position in the EFF.  I am Ntsiki Mazwai, with or without the EFF,” said Ntsiki.