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Former President Jacob Zuma before the Zondo commission.
Felix Dlangamandla, Netwerk24
- Former President Jacob Zuma is scheduled to appear before Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo for 10 days in 2021.
- Zuma does not object to the Constitutional Court’s offer of the Zondo commission to force him to appear in accordance with a new subpoena.
- In court documents, the commission’s lawyers argue that the former president’s letter warning that he will not oppose the Commission’s candidacy for the Constitutional Court is “one more instance of Mr. Zuma’s refusal to account for his illegal conduct. “.
Former President Jacob Zuma’s decision not to participate “at all” in the Constitutional Court’s attempt at the state capture investigation to force him to appear and answer questions in January and February 2021 is “yet another instance of Mr. Zuma to account for his illegal conduct. ” .
This is according to attorneys for the commission in arguments presented in court this week.
In a letter sent to the Acting Clerk of the Constitutional Court on Monday, Zuma’s attorney, Eric Mabuza, said that the former president’s legal team had been “instructed” that he “will not participate at all in these processes,” News24 reported.
READ | Zuma vs Zondo | The battle for the soul of the Constitution
This means that you will not object to the request for consultation.
But because Zuma has not objected to the relief sought by the commission, attorneys will argue in court that the former president was required to appear and testify under the new subpoena, regardless of his request for review, challenging the denial. Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo to recuse himself. .
Since the commission began its hearings in August 2018, it has done everything possible to get Zuma to provide her version of events in an affidavit and appear before her, according to court documents.
He said:
Mr. Zuma not only avoids testifying in the Commission, but actively attacks the legitimacy and credibility of the Commission, its President, and its work. This requires urgent intervention by the Court, to authoritatively counter the negative impact of these attacks and protect the integrity and legitimacy of the Commission.
Zuma’s defender, Muzi Sikhakhane, previously suggested that if he were forced to appear before Zondo, he would exercise his right to remain silent.
But the investigation wants the country’s highest court to order that Zuma “cannot rely on the right to remain silent.”
In his arguments on behalf of the commission, attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said:
The right to remain silent that Mr. Zuma threatens to invoke is only available to a person arrested or accused in criminal proceedings, in accordance with section 35 (1) (a) and 35 (3) (h) of the Constitution. None of these provisions apply to Mr. Zuma when he appears before the Commission. President Zuma is therefore an obligated witness and does not have the right to remain silent before the Commission. Although you retain your privilege not to incriminate yourself, you cannot rely on this privilege to resist appearing as a witness or refuse to answer at all.
Ngcukaitobi also said that the court should have a “poor opinion” of Zuma’s response when he said that he will not participate in these proceedings.
He said there was no good reason why the commission, which relies on public funds to do its work, should pay the costs of this application.
He also said that the former president “either does not appreciate the duty of accountability, imposed on all public officials, including the President of the Republic, or simply does not care to fulfill that duty. Whatever it is, the intervention of this Court” . it is obviously necessary. “
The case must be heard through a virtual hearing on December 29, 2020.
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