Photo: GCIS
Photo: GCIS
Jacob Zuma says he will not be returning to the State Capture Inquiry while Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo is presiding over matters. The explosive rejection was made on Monday evening, in a statement released by his lawyers.
Jacob Zuma vs Raymond Zondo – what’s it all about?
Amongst other things, Msholozi says he has been left feeling victimised by Zondo, after the DCJ held a media briefing to address the former president’s dates and repeated failures to return to the Commission. JZ was famously caught out at the panel back in 2019, when he stormed out of proceedings after an intense line of questioning.
“As a result, Jacob Zuma’s views the recent media briefing as a culmination of a series of events by which he was singled out and targeted by the commission.”
“For the reasons to be fully set out in the application to be made soon, we (the lawyers) are instructed (by Zuma) to seek your recusal as chairperson of the commission on the ground that our client reasonably apprehends that you have already adopted a biased disposition towards him and cannot bring an impartial mind to the issues and evidence that relate to him.”
Jacob Zuma statement
Why has JZ asked for the DCJ to quit the State Capture Inquiry?
Zuma, in requesting that Zondo steps aside and recuses himself, has certainly pushed the envelope further than ever before. He has called the DCJ ‘biased’, and also claims that there is a ‘historical family connection’ between the two that should have been made public before Zondo accepted the responsibility of the State Capture Inquiry.
The bombshell has rocked the Commission, and Zuma’s decision to go nuclear will have serious rammifications:
“Former President Zuma’s conclusion that the chairperson is no longer capable of exercising an independent and impartial mind is fortified by what he views as the unwarranted public statements made by the chairperson at the said media briefing.”
“The source of the chairperson’s bias against him stems from the fact that the (former) president and the chairperson have historical personal, family, and professional relations that ought to have been publicly disclosed by the chairperson before accepting his appointment.”
Jacob Zuma statement
[Breaking News]
— Banele (@Gentlements) September 28, 2020
President Zuma’s legal team have sent an application letter for DCJ Zondo to recuse himself as chairperson of the commission.
This is after R. Zondo has been biased and unfairly prejudiced to certain state capture witnesses. pic.twitter.com/yPb5x11WA4
