THE much-anticipated meeting between the ANC’s top six and former president Jacob Zuma over his refusal to appear before the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture took place on Monday and was ‘constructive and positive’.
This was confirmed by the ANC’s Secretary General Ace Magashule during a media briefing at the party’s headquarters in Johannesburg.
The meeting comes after the ANC national executive committee (NEC) took a decision in February to ask national officials led by President Cyril Ramaphosa to engage Zuma on his decision to defy the commission.
“We indeed held a meeting with comrade Jacob Zuma. The meeting took place via Zoom from 10am to 17h30 on Monday,” said Magashule.
“We can confirm that it was indeed a good meeting – constructive and positive. We agreed to continuously engage on various issues, including his appearance before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry.”
Magashule said Zuma spoke openly to the national officials about his individual rights as enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, saying he has been ‘unfairly’ targeted and persecuted.
“He spoke extensively about his rights as enshrined the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Comrade Zuma believes that he has been subjected to unfair persecution and prosecution for over two decades. He also emphasised that as a law-abiding citizen he respects the constitution and is entitled to the rights under the Bill of Rights,” said Magashule.
“The ANC Top Six was happy about the engagement in a spirit of building a united South Africa. We agreed to give him space to continue consulting with his lawyers on whether to appear before the commission. Once again, this was one of the best held meetings of the ANC – very positive, and constructive.”
Zuma is refusing to appear before the commission after he requested Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo to recuse himself from proceedings due to ‘apprehension of bias’.
However, Zondo rejected an application by Zuma’s lawyers seeking his recusal from the corruption case on allegations of bias.
Zondo argued that there were no grounds to support Zuma’s claims that the two men were friends.
The inquiry is examining allegations of high-level graft during Zuma’s period in power from 2009 to 2018.
Zuma denies wrongdoing and has not cooperated with the inquiry.
His no-show in February came despite the inquiry summoning him to appear and the constitutional court directing him to comply with that summons and give testimony.
The allegations against Zuma include that he allowed businessmen close to him – brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta – to plunder state resources and influence government policy for their own benefit.
The Gupta family, who also deny wrongdoing, left South Africa after Zuma was ousted in a move orchestrated by allies of Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa has been trying to restore investor confidence in Africa’s most industrialised nation.
However, he has faced opposition from a faction within the governing party that is still loyal to Zuma and Magashule.
Meanwhile, Zuma has missed the deadline to file answering affidavits to the Constitutional Court in his contempt of court case.
Zuma was given until the end of Monday to respond to the application by the State Capture Commission asking the Constitutional Court for a two–year imprisonment order against him.
The Commission took Zuma to court for violating a court order compelling him to testify before it.
The application also cited the Police Commissioner Khehla Sithole and the Police Minister Bheki Cele as respondents in the case.
The application will be heard by the Constitutional Court on the 25th of this month.
(SOURCE: INSIDE POLITICS)
