A Criminal
Trial For Jacob Zuma Or Donald Trump?
Recently I gave you my take on what happened
in the regime change in Zimbabwe. To briefly summarize, those wishing to remove
Mugabe from power were “stuck between a rock and a hard place” as follows:
1) They did not have the 2/3’s majority
in the parliament to affect a legal impeachment.
2) A forceful removal of Mugabe by the
military would have brought in the South African Defense Forces who would have
put Mugabe back into power after major disruptions and loss of life.
Those wishing change were forced to “make
Mugabe a deal that he could not refuse.” He walked out of office with no
criminal or civil liability in Zimbabwe.
Let us go back over 43 years when Richard
M. Nixon was forced to resign as president of the USA. On the day that Nixon
left office, he rode on Air Force One and landed at a US Air Forced base in
Southern California. Much to everyone’s surprise, a crowd of over 50,000
supporters and well wishers greeted him as he stepped from the plane. (Please
keep this thought in mind as we move forward.)
Then President Gerald R. Ford got the bad
news from the US Justice Department that a criminal trial of Richard M. Nixon
would take up to two years. The country would be paralyzed as the trial went
forward. The costs of such a trial would be staggering. President Ford decided that
the only solution was to pardon Nixon. The disgraced president was handed a
huge income tax bill over a tax fraud. His wealthy supporters paid the bill, by
the way.
Let us fast forward to today. Eventually
Jacob Zuma and Donald Trump are going to be confronted with overwhelming
evidence of their guilt in financial and political wrong doing. In both the US
and South Africa here is the dilemma that authorities will have to face as
follows:
1) Any criminal trial of Jacob Zuma or
Donald Trump would literally be “the O.J. Simpson murder trials (1994-1995) on
steroids.” Each trial would cost billions of Rands or billions of dollars. Such
money would be much better spent on social programs, etc. As the old saying
goes: “The lawyers would end up getting all the money.”
2) Today we have televised trials and
massive proliferation of mobile devices where people can watch television from
almost anywhere. As such trials unfolded, people in offices, schools, working
here and there, and in the home would be mesmerized as the criminal trials went
forward. South Africa and The USA would suffer a paralysis that would last up
to two years.
3) Regardless of how much objective
evidence proving wrong doing is presented in either country, there will be a
large group of people who still support these men and refuse to believe that
they are guilty. (Please refer to my comments about the greeting that Richard
M. Nixon got in August of 1974.) Such criminal trials would literally “spiritually
tear apart both South Africa and the United States.”
4) Both Jacob Zuma and Donald Trump have
both shown how good they are at “beating criminal charges in court, etc.”
Those seeking a regime change will take
note of this dilemma. At the end of the thought process, negotiations will
begin to make either man “an offer that he cannot refuse.” It will be a pardon
for all wrong doing for them and any family members involved with them in the
wrong doing. They will go back to private life as free men and enjoy their
wealth. Other people charged in this wrong doing will see the inside of jail;
some for a long time.
Regardless of what country one lives in and
what language one speaks, our parents teach us as little children the
difference between right and wrong. We are taught that if we do wrong, we will
be punished. We are taught that we are to expect moral and ethical conduct from
our political leaders.
The moral of this story is what is supposed
to happen in this world and what actually happens are two different things.