South African President Jacob Zuma was yesterday grilled by legislators over his government’s decision to grant diplomatic immunity to Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe, following accusations she assaulted a model in that country last month.

Zuma professed ignorance on the matter, then bizarrely said he was not a lawyer and was not directly involved in the saga.

“I am not a lawyer, I don’t know what happened and how the matter at the end, came to a point that it came (sic).

“So all I am saying is that action was taken.

“The police were there and they dealt with the matter and the issue of diplomatic condition came about and actions were taken.

“All I am saying is [that] I can’t answer that detail, I can’t lie.

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“What do you say the truth has run away (sic)?” he said.

“Firstly, I have not opened the country to any abuse.

“If somebody, part of the reason why we have the laws in the country is that when somebody commits a crime here, there are law enforcement entities that deal with that and so far, as the matter you are referring to, the police were very active and they were very involved in dealing with that matter.”

This came as the South African High Court will sit on September 19 to hear the first part of a court application filed against Grace over the diplomatic immunity granted to her following her alleged attack on model Gabriella Engels.

Engels’ court application was filed last week in Gauteng by AfriForum lawyers