Zuma dodges Zondo inquiry appearance

‘Teflon don’ takes rain check, claims ill health renders testimony at commission impossible

“The former president’s integrity should be assumed, and that he is not playing games with the commission

FORMER president Jacob Zuma has dodged being summoned before the state capture commission after Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo accepted his legal team’s submission that he is ill and would be undergoing medical treatment next month.

Zuma was due to testify before the commission from January 27 to 31.

Zuma abandoned his testimony at the commission in July, objecting to the line of questioning. He then missed two scheduled appearances, with his lawyers saying he was ill. They did not give details.

Advocate Thabani Masuku SC, for Zuma, insisted that there was no basis for issuing the summons sought by evidence leaders and that his client’s medical team was prepared to meet with Justice Zondo, the commission’s chairperson, to brief him in private on the former president’s medical condition.

Masuku told the commission that the head of Zuma’s medical team was willing to discuss his health issues behind closed doors in chambers. He added that the former president’s integrity should be assumed and that he was not “playing games” with the inquiry.

Advocate Paul Pretorius, the head of the inquiry’s legal team, said: “We learnt yesterday at 4pm of the medical condition of Mr Zuma. We do not persist in seeking summons for the dates dictated by you, chair, but we will seek the issue of summons for a later date that is appropriate.” The inquiry was adjourned for legal counsel to meet with Zondo in his chambers. The commission is investigating wide-ranging allegations of corruption during Zuma’s tenure from 2009 to 2018, when he resigned.

Justice Zondo said he would announce a decision at a later date after being briefed by Zuma’s medical team.

At the commission in July, Zuma hogged the headlines. At some point, he wanted to pull out after he said he was being “cross-examined” when the initial arrangement was that he was going to speak on what he knew as the alleged capturing of the state happened under his watch.

He was persuaded to continue testifying and claimed that two of his former ministers turned foes, Ngoako Ramatlhodi and Siphiwe Nyanda, were apartheid spies.

He alleged that Ramatlhodi was recruited in the 80s while he was still a student in Lesotho

Among the allegations Zuma faces are that members of the Gupta family influenced Cabinet appointments and swayed the awarding of lucrative state contracts. The family left South Africa after major banks refused to continue doing business with them, citing a concern over increased risk.

Key Gupta family members were placed on the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list last year.