FORMER president Jacob Zuma has written a scathing letter to the Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, saying he has a duty to protect his constitutional rights, even at the risk of being imprisoned.
Zuma was given until Wednesday to reply to a directive issued by Mogoeng to pen a 15-page affidavit telling the apex court what the appropriate sanction should be if the Concourt finds him guilty of contempt of the order to appear before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.
“I also have a duty to protect my constitutional rights even at the risk of being imprisoned. I have justturned79 years as I write this letter. I have not known the peace and the freedom that I committed the most active years of my life to. However, I watch the Constitutional Court which is charged with ensuring the safety of my constitutional rights, violate them with judicial impunity,” said Zuma in the letter.
“What the Zondo Commission has done is inexcusable and I will live to see my vindication when –after squandering billions of much needed public revenue, an independent court reviews and set aside the findings of the Commission on the basis that it was not established in accordance with our Constitution.”
Zuma has also accused the country’s highest court of abusing its power, by taking away his constitutional rights.
He also claims that the Zondo Commission of Inquiry has become a complex project controlled by his political foes.
“I have no doubt that the Zondo Commission has become a complex project controlled by my political foes. Even though I established the Commission, I was aware that it had been proposed as part of the campaigns to force me out of government,” Zuma writes.
The court recently asked Zuma to provide feedback on how he should be punished for refusing to comply with its order that he testify about his alleged corruption.
- Inside Politics
