Zondo compelling Zuma to testify twice

THE Zondo Commission of Inquiry has served summons on former president Jacob Zuma to testify before it not only in January next year, but also for a second week in February.

The commission said yesterday a summons was served on Zuma to appear before it from January 18 to 22 and again from February 15 to 19.

Spokesperson Mbuyiselo Stemela said the commission had yet to lay a criminal charge against Zuma for walking out of the commission on November 19 after Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo dismissed his application for his recusal.

Zuma argued that Zondo abandoned the required objectivity and led witnesses to implicate him in state capture scandals.

Stemela said the commission would lay criminal charges against Zuma once it had filed an application at the Constitutional Court for an order compelling him to comply with the new summons served on him.

The commission intends to ask the National Prosecuting Authority to investigate Zuma’s conduct.

Zuma said he would seek to challenge Zondo’s refusal to recuse himself.

His lawyer, advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, argued that the former president had reason to fear that taking the stand at the commission would be like entering “a slaughterhouse”. |