Zondo vs Zuma case to be heard on March 25
THE ongoing legal battle between the Zondo Commission and former president Jacob Zuma will be heard by the Constitutional Court on March 25 this year.
The commission wants the former president to be jailed for defying two summons sent to him in January and February.
In a notice sent to all parties yesterday, the highest court in the land said all papers should be in by March 12.
“The Chief Justice has issued the following directives: The application is set down for Thursday, March 25 at 10am. The respondents (Zuma or his lawyers), if any, by Monday March 8. The applicants (the Zondo Commission) must file their replying affidavit, if any, by Friday, March 12,” read part of the notice sent to parties.
By yesterday it was not clear whether Zuma, who left to visit the kingdom of Eswatini on Sunday, had instructed his lawyers to act, or would not oppose the application, as he previously said he was ready to be jailed and his defiance of the Zondo Commission was a political statement against an unjust judiciary system he alleges is persecuting him for political reasons.
The commission is probing allegations of state capture during Zuma’s presidency between 2009 and 2018 and wants him to appear before it to answer allegations implicating him in co-ruling with the Gupta family.
As the war of words continues, yesterday the Jacob Zuma Foundation issued a statement attacking the Zondo Commission and its chairperson, deputy chief justice, Raymond Zondo.
The foundation alleged that Justice Zondo, who Zuma wanted to recuse himself, was continuing with his “agenda” against the former president.
The foundation’s statement was triggered by a submission by the commission’s secretary, Professor Itumeleng Mosala, to the Constitutional Court, asking it to be firm when it decides to penalise Zuma for his defiance.
“This desperation of the 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 that the Zuma state capture commission of inquiry finds (former) president Zuma guilty by hook or crook to deliver him to some hidden masters.
“The 1947 Act talks about six months imprisonment, or a £55 fine, not the two years imprisonment that the honourable judge, who is chairing the commission alone, suggests,” the foundation said.
The foundation repeated allegations made by Zuma on February 1 that Justice Zondo is treating the former president in the way the apartheid government treated former PAC leader, Robert Sobukwe.
Sobukwe, who led the PAC when it broke away from the ANC in 1959, was considered by the apartheid government as a dangerous hardliner and harsh laws were enacted to contain him, including jailing him in solitary confinement on Robben Island.
“It is clear that laws are being changed to deal with (former) President Zuma, like how the apartheid government created Sobukwe laws. Indeed, it sounds like an old apartheid regime in the hands of the black leaders in the democratic South Africa.”
Commission spokesperson, Reverend Mbuyiselo Stemela, did not respond to the claims made by the foundation.
Meanwhile, the ANC’s top six has arranged to meet with Zuma in a desperate bid to convince him to change his mind amid threats of violence as MK vets continue to “secure” his Nkandla home.