How Zuma got it wrong – again
The Jacob Zuma Foundation got it horribly wrong in a challenge to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo when it made reference to a 1947 Act under which they suggested the former president was being charged when, in fact, he is up for contempt of court.
Commission brings application for former president to be held in contempt of court, jailed.
The Jacob G Zuma Foundation has launched another salvo in Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s direction, this time accusing him of trying to get the judiciary to “bend” the law in his efforts to have the former president held in contempt of court and jailed for two years.
The foundation claims the legislation only provides for a jail term of up to six months. But it’s relying on the wrong legislation.
In a statement yesterday, the foundation described the move as one of “desperation” aimed at getting Zuma convicted by any means. “This desperation of Deputy Chief Justice Zondo, abusing his position as the second in charge in the Constitutional Court, instructing his subordinates to bend the laws of the country, is unprecedented.
“He ignores process and jurisdictions as prescribed in law just to ensure the Zuma state capture commission finds Zuma guilty by hook or crook to deliver him to some hidden masters,” it charged.
“The 1947 Act talks about six months imprisonment or a £55 pound fine, not the two years imprisonment that the honourable judge who is chairing the commission alone suggests.”
In the proceedings in question, though, Zuma isn’t being charged under the Act referred to – the Commissions Act – but with contempt of court. Late last year, Zondo subpoenaed Zuma to appear before him.
This was after the commission’s other efforts to get him back into the witness box after a brief appearance in 2019 failed.
On the day his evidence was due to start, Zuma brought an application for Zondo to recuse himself and staged a walkout after it was dismissed.
So in late November, Zondo again subpoenaed him. He also turned to the Constitutional Court for an order compelling Zuma to comply. And in January, he was successful. Regardless, Zuma was again a no-show at his scheduled appearance last month.
In mid-February, Zuma claimed the Constitutional Court order to testify at the commission “effectively stripped me of my constitutional right as a citizen”, and made a number of wildly inaccurate claims.
Now the commission has brought an urgent application to have him held in contempt of court and jailed for two years.
Constitutional law expert Paul Hoffman yesterday laughed off the foundation’s statement.
“In a contempt of court case, it’s not only the party bringing the case that’s interested in the outcome but the court too,” he said. “Zondo is not bending the rules.”
Hoffman suggested it was the first time in its history the apex court faced a situation in which an order it had issued had been deliberately disobeyed. He said it was crucial Zuma’s conduct not go unchecked. “It makes a mockery out of the court and the rule of law,” he said, adding that it also set a dangerous precedent.
In the wake of Zuma having refused to take the stand at the commission, Swifambo Rail director Auswell Mashaba has already followed suit. “Once the rule of law is undermined by people just ignoring or defying orders made against them, you get into a situation where lawlessness prevails,” Hoffman said yesterday.
The Constitutional Court will hear the commission’s application later this month. Zuma has until early next week to respond.
Zondo is not bending the rules at all