Zuma speaks to grassroots supporters via a video link

South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma, spoke Thursday to his supporters for the first time since being released on parole in early September.

The former ANC leader was released on medical grounds after serving two months of a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court.

Jacob Zuma spoke via a video link as no one knows where the 79-year-old is serving his parole.

In his speech to supporters in Durban, the former president lambasted the courts and criticised the graft investigations against him.

“Today we are a state governed by those who know what it is like to be oppressed and denied fundamental human rights. It is this state that has imprisoned me for contempt of court without trial. Something has gone terribly wrong in our country” lamented the former South African president.

South Africans head to the polls on November 1 to elect local councilors across the country.

Creekvibes News Magazine recalls that Jacob Zuma was arrest in July, and it sparked a wave of violence and unrest across the country that resulted in at least 350 deaths.