The SABC has not violated, as he suggests, any of his or anyone's rights by referring to the government in the manner that they do.
The fact is that Zuma suffers from an inherent misbelief that anything that offends him politically, amounts to a violation of his fundamental rights.
The many frivolous court battles he has launched were driven, in part, by this inflated sense of self-importance and they were lost as a result, because of his inability to learn this basic lesson to the contrary.
Zuma’s challenge to the SABC is about one thing – intimidation.
As former head of state, Zuma understands acutely the influence of the public broadcaster on discourse and the formulation of opinion in our society.
Therefore his rejection of their use of the GNU phrase is not about the accuracy of its definition, no matter how contested the term is.
It is about his discomfort in the SABC using language that he is politically at odds with.
The SABC must defend its independence from all political players, those in power and those who long for the days when they cold control it.
SOWETAN SAYS | Zuma wants to intimidate the SABC
Jacob Zuma is concerned about many things, but the integrity of the SABC and its commitment to its independent mandate is not one of them.
His disdain for the integrity of public broadcaster was demonstrated over many years during his tenure as president of the Republic, when he appointed and granted political protection to wholly compromised individuals who ran the entity almost to the ground while hounding out some of its best professionals.
Zuma’s latest court challenge against the SABC must be understood within this context.
He has filed an urgent application to the high court seeking an order to compel the SABC to stop referring to the seventh administration as a government of national unity (GNU).
He argues that the reference to the GNU is inaccurate and an illegal definition of what is contained in the statement of intent signed by the co-governing parties.
The court will decide if Zuma’s application is worth the paper it is written on.
It will likely be thrown out, simply for the sheer ridiculousness of its claims and prayer.
The SABC has not violated, as he suggests, any of his or anyone's rights by referring to the government in the manner that they do.
The fact is that Zuma suffers from an inherent misbelief that anything that offends him politically, amounts to a violation of his fundamental rights.
The many frivolous court battles he has launched were driven, in part, by this inflated sense of self-importance and they were lost as a result, because of his inability to learn this basic lesson to the contrary.
Zuma’s challenge to the SABC is about one thing – intimidation.
As former head of state, Zuma understands acutely the influence of the public broadcaster on discourse and the formulation of opinion in our society.
Therefore his rejection of their use of the GNU phrase is not about the accuracy of its definition, no matter how contested the term is.
It is about his discomfort in the SABC using language that he is politically at odds with.
The SABC must defend its independence from all political players, those in power and those who long for the days when they cold control it.