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By Baldwin Ndaba 
November 21, 2020
Johannesburg – Former President Jacob Zuma’s strike at the Zondo Commission was previously rehearsed when he allegedly refused to answer questions from the commission’s evidence leader, attorney Paul Pretorius, in July last year.
This was the opinion of Dr. Benny Lekubu, an anti-corruption expert at Unisa Law School after Zuma and one of his senior legal team, Adv Muzi Sikhakhane, filed a dramatic strike after Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo will dismiss the former president’s request for his removal. .
While Zondo and his legal team seemed surprised by the strike, journalists and members of the public witnessed how Zuma and Sikhakhane organized the strike.
As they left the hearing venue, they beckoned to some of their supporters, who were sitting in the public gallery, including UMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans spokesman Carl Niehaus.
In less than five minutes, Zuma was gone. All the parking lots that were designated for him and the presidential VIP guards were left empty minutes after Judge Zondo resumed proceedings at 11:40 a.m. to render his verdict on whether the former president should take the stand and respond to allegations of his involvement. in the capture of the state along with the fugitive Gupta family.
Zondo, to the dismay of his investigative and legal team, was forced to announce that the former president had left without his permission despite having received summons to appear before the commission to respond to the complaints against him.
Rather than issue an arrest warrant, Zondo asked his team to reflect on the events over the weekend. He is expected to make a finding about Zuma’s behavior on Monday.
But Dr. Lekubu was not surprised by the strike.
“The signs were displayed during his last appearance at the Zondo Commission in July of last year. He accused the leader of the evidence of questioning him. Later, his legal team also came to his defense and his testimony was interrupted, ”Lekubu said.
He said Zuma’s conduct was contrary to when he announced the establishment of the Zondo Commission in January 2018.
“Mr. Zuma’s comment gave us hope that we were on the path of uncovering embezzlement, fraud and corruption, as well as a lack of leadership in our country. Unfortunately, almost three years later, it is the same person who refuses to cooperate with the Zondo Commission, ”Lekubu said.
Zondo made similar comments Thursday, when he recounted how Zuma failed to appear before the Commission in September of last year. He said his legal team told him it was due to health problems and a change in legal team.
Zondo said earlier this year, prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, attempts were made for him to appear, but he allegedly told the commission that his approach was to mount a defense for his criminal trial related to the arms dealing case. multimillionaire in South Africa.
Zondo made another attempt to get Zuma to appear before him in September, asking him to provide the commission with affidavits against the serious state capture charges against him.
“They did not appear. Instead, on September 28, Mr. Zuma’s legal team wrote a letter to the commission indicating their intention to submit a request for my disqualification. Due to his non-compliance, I had to issue directives ordering Mr. Zuma to appear before the commission on November 16.
“As Mr. Zuma was expected to take the stand, his legal team only submitted a request for my disqualification on November 11, a few days before his hearing. The secretary of the commission (Professor Itumeleng Mosala) opposed the request, but I agreed to hear it, ”Zondo said.
In his request, Zuma argued that he and Zondo were friends. He also said he had influenced Zondo’s appointment to the bench in 1997, but Zondo had none of that.
In dismissing Zuma’s request for disqualification, Judge Zondo said: “Mr. Zuma did not pass a reasonable apprehension test of bias and his request should be dismissed. Therefore, it is dismissed,” Zondo ruled.
Judge Zondo also rejected Zuma’s account that he visited him at his official residence in Durban a few days after his appointment as head of the commission of inquiry into the state capture.
In Zuma’s affidavit, presented to the commission on Wednesday, the former president said that Zondo’s visit to his official residence was part of a continuation of their friendship, but Zondo denies this.
“Upon my appointment as head of the commission by the Chief Justice (Mogoeng Mogoeng), he informed me that the former president wanted to meet with me. In fact, he had visited him at his residence. It was an official meeting,” Zondo said.
Judge Zondo also said it was too late for the former president to reject his appointment almost three years later and said he would have raised the issue of their alleged friendship during the initial stages of his appointment.
Political Bureau
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