Zondo wants Zuma jailed for 2 years

In an unprecedented urgent application to the Constitutional Court, the Zondo commission is asking for a two-year jail sentence for disgraced former president Jacob Zuma.

“It is declared that Mr Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is guilty of contempt of court in that in disobedience of paragraphs 4 and 5 of this court’s order of 28 January,” the secretary of the commission, Professor Itumeleng Mosala, stated in his notice of motion.

The court’s findings included:

Zuma must obey all summonses and directives lawfully issued by the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture;

Zuma is directed to appear and give evidence before the commission on dates determined by it; and

Zuma does not have a right to remain silent in proceedings before the commission.

Mosala asked the court to sentence Zuma to “imprisonment for a term of two years” for having “intentionally failed to appear” before the commission and “intentionally

and unlawfully refused to furnish the commission with affidavits in compliance with directives issued by the chair”.

Yesterday, the JG Zuma Foundation stirred up a hornet’s nest when it said it hoped the judiciary would not tolerate any further postponements in the criminal trial of Zuma and his co-accused, French arms company Thales.

The National Prosecuting Authority said his appearance today was never set down at the start of his corruption trial.

The actual date of trial will be determined by the court.