Former South African president Jacob Zuma appears in the High Court of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 27 July 2018. EPA-EFE/PHIL MAGAKOE / POOL
Former president Jacob Zuma’s backing of former Sars commissioner Tom Moyane in his legal challenge of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to fire him is meant to frustrate the Commission of Inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance at Sars, in case it implicates Zuma in corruption.
This is the view of Unisa professor of politics Dirk Kotze, who recently wrote a scathing opinion piece on the Moyane and Zuma relationship. He said Zuma had no strong case and that Ramaphosa had the prerogative to act or not on the commission’s recommendations.
Zuma has filed a confirmatory affidavit in the Constitutional Court in support of Moyane.
Zuma said that, as someone who appointed the Sars commission, he never intended it to issue interim recommendations before gathering all the evidence, and that its chairperson, Judge Robert Nugent, had no authority to deal with the employment contracts of individual employees.
“To that extent, the Sars Commission has deviated [from] its originally intended purpose. Finally, I also confirm that at all material times hereto, President Ramaphosa diligently served as my deputy and would have been familiar with most important and relevant decisions made by the Cabinet and or the Presidency,” Zuma said in his court papers.
This was a clear reference to Ramaphosa’s dismissal of Moyane based on the commission’s interim report, which found Moyane unfit to lead Sars.
Kotze said it had been Nugent’s discretion to issue an interim report.
The analyst cited several examples of commissions that had issued interim reports and recommendations that were either used or not, including Judge Farlam’s report on the Marikana massacre, which recommended the criminal prosecution of the police involved.
According to Kotze, a commission of inquiry is not a court of law and its decisions are not necessarily binding.
“I think Zuma does not have a strong case. They must be able to prove that Ramaphosa’s decision to dismiss Moyane was irrational in the same way that the court found that Shaun Abrahams’ appointment as NPA head was irrational,” Kotze said.
Zuma was worried about both the Sars and state capture commissions, because they put the spotlight on him.
“I think he is in trouble. He wants Moyane to be reinstated at all cost,” Kotze said. “This matter is less about Ramaphosa than it is about Zuma.”
Another political analyst, Xolani Dube, said the former president wasn’t ready to give up.
“For JZ, it’s about his life, he is under siege,” Dube said.
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