Justice Zondo is too ‘incompetent’ to be chief justice, says Malema

By Thapelo Lekabe

Malema slams Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo

EFF leader Julius Malema has accused Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo of gross incompetence, saying he does not deserve to be the country’s acting chief justice while justice Mogoeng Mogoeng is on long leave.

“Zondo doesn’t qualify to be our chief justice. He is the most incompetent person who has plunged this country into crisis,” Malema said, speaking in Johannesburg during an EFF media conference on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: ‘Wenzeni uZuma?’- Malema calls for protection of Zuma’s supporters

He questioned why Zondo had approached the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) instead of a lower court in his application to compel former president Jacob Zuma to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.

He said Zondo had “single-handedly” caused a crisis in the country after the ConCourt sentenced Zuma to 15 months in jail in June for refusing to obey orders to testify at the commission.

Malema also criticised the apex court for taking too long to deliver its judgment on the case, saying it should not have taken longer than three months.

“There is something wrong with the Constitutional Court and when we say that, some fools are going to say we are attacking the judiciary. We are not.

There is gross incompetence at the highest level of the judiciary starting with the incompetence of acting chief justice Zondo.

Malema said he was not afraid to criticise the judiciary, saying he doesn’t care whether they liked him or not because he is “not in the business of being liked”, but telling the truth.

“We are not going to be scared to speak about incompetent judges of the Constitutional Court who take four months to resolve an urgent matter,” he said.

He said the judiciary should not be given the status that is “bigger than God”.

“We have Constitutional Court judges to decide an urgent matter and we’re told that we must keep quiet because judges are bigger than the constitution.

“Judges are human beings. If they’re incompetent, they’re incompetent. When we are incompetent, judges tell us we are incompetent. Why can’t we tell them they’re incompetent? Who are they? Are they bigger than God?”