Zondo gives Zuma & co a month
Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has granted an application for a month-long postponement of this week’s much-awaited high-profile appearance before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture of Department Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and former Cabinet colleague Barbara Hogan, pictured.
This is to afford former president Jacob Zuma and other implicated individuals an opportunity to put forward their versions.
The postponement will result in Hogan’s testimony, which implicates Zuma, among others, for alleged meddling in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) during his presidency, being heard on November 12.
Zuma and his legal team, headed by senior counsel Dan Mantsha, will have an opportunity to go through the 300-page statement by former public enterprises minister Hogan, with the latest version having been received by the commission on Monday.
Gordhan’s hearing has been scheduled for November 15. His lawyers are expected to submit his statement to the inquiry today.
Charged with the appointment of SOE board members in such companies as Transnet, South African Airways (SAA) and Eskom during her tenure, Hogan served as public enterprises minister from April 2009 and was removed by Zuma in October 2010.
“The reason for the postponement is due to implicated persons not having been notified on time. Commission rules stipulate that implicated persons should receive notices timeously,” said Zondo yesterday.
“I emphasised this previously and continue to do so – the commission and its legal team should make sure implicated persons are treated fairly and afforded an opportunity to present their versions. Fairness should be understood in the context of the commission of inquiry and should not be confused with that in a court of law.”
Zondo’s remarks followed an earlier argument between Mantsha and commission senior counsel Thandi Norman, when Zuma’s lawyer questioned the commission’s legal team for failure to provide it with the new version of Hogan’s statement.
Norman said the updated version was an addition to the statement already given to the Zuma legal team on 30 July.