PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to appear at the State Capture Commission before the end of March in 2021, according to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Zondo was briefing the media on Monday about the ground covered by the commission since it started its work in August 2018.
According to Zondo, the president is expected to account about what he knows about State Capture, since he was a member of the executive during the time in which it is alleged to have happened.
Zondo said the commission cannot finish its work until the president and the ANC testify at the inquiry.
“He was deputy president of the country and during other years he was not the deputy president of the country but was deputy president of the ANC, the ruling party,” Zondo said.
“The idea was to establish what he may have known about what was happening so that he can tell us what he knew, what happened and what challenges if any there were, but basically it is about what he knows as per what was revealed in the commission in regard to various matters.”
Zondo said he was disappointed that many witnesses have not come forward to testify at the inquiry as he believes that there are many people with information that may be important to the inquiry.
He said it remains unclear whether former President Jacob Zuma will appear before the commission early next year.
Zuma said last week that he would not be participating in the State Capture Inquiry’s urgent Constitutional Court case compelling him to abide by summons to appear before the commission next year.
Last Monday was the highest court’s deadline for Zuma to file an answering affidavit to the commission’s application. Instead, his attorney Eric Mabuza filed a brief letter, saying he will not be participating in the commission.
“We are instructed by our client, President JG Zuma, that he will not be participating in these proceedings at all,” the letter said.
His snub of the Constitutional Court case means that when the application is heard on December 29, it will be unopposed by Zuma’s lawyers.
However, the commission will still have to persuade the highest court that it should hear its application directly and to find in its favour on the merits.
The commission urgently went to the highest court three weeks ago after Zuma absconded from the commission — in breach of a summons to appear and testify.
(SOURCE: INSIDE POLITICS)
