Zondo does the right thing – unlike JZ

Jacob Zuma has, once again, given the country’s judiciary the middle finger, dramatically walking out of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture yesterday without formally asking for permission from chair Raymond Zondo, who dismissed the former president’s application for his recusal.

Zuma has broken the law. And he’s the same man who, in 2018, on announcing Zondo’s appointment, said he had “full faith in all judges” and that he urged “everyone to comply with the commission and place no impediments to prevent it from doing its work”.

Like Zondo said after Zuma’s dramatic exit, this is “a serious matter” – and Zuma was expected to take the witness stand, not walk away.

The Commission’s Act gives the commission the same powers to summons witnesses as the courts and it has been used to subpoena Zuma.

Zondo’s ruling yesterday is what we expected. We believe he handled the matter with the professionalism we expect from him – painstakingly taking into consideration every point raised by Zuma’s lawyers in their latest affidavit, submitted on Wednesday.

In it, Zuma argued Zondo must recuse himself because of their “historical, personal and professional friendship”, as he is likely to be biased. Zondo yesterday once again disputed this assertion, saying Zuma’s mention of a meeting they had after he was selected to chair the commission was not “a personal visit”. It was Zuma who instructed the chief justice to get the successful applicant to meet him at his official residence.

Zuma’s counsel, Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, told the commission he had been instructed to take the ruling to review and to lodge a complaint with the Judicial Services Commission as Zondo had become “a judge in a dispute that include yourself”.

It remains to be seen whether Zuma will appear at the commission on Monday, as his summonses still stand, or whether he will be arrested for refusing to cooperate.

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