THE State Capture Inquiry will lodge a criminal complaint against Jacob Zuma, after the former president left the proceedings last week without obtaining permission, the presiding judge said on Monday.
“The summons directing Mr Zuma to attend and remain in attendance was at the time of his departure from the commission still valid and binding, and had not been set aside,” Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said.
“I have decided to request the secretary of the commission to lay a criminal complaint with the South African police against Mr Zuma, so that the police can investigate his conduct,” Zondo added.
Zuma, whose nine years as head of state until February 2018 were marred by scandal, did not immediately comment.
A number of witnesses at the inquiry have implicated him in alleged wrongdoing. Zuma has denied the allegations against him.
Zuma had sought Zondo’s recusal from the inquiry, maintaining that the judge was biased against him, but his application last week failed, after which Zuma walked out of the proceedings.
Zondo said on Monday that he would determine new dates when Zuma would have to appear before the inquiry.
The secretary of the proceedings will apply to the constitutional court to compel Zuma to appear.
Last week, Zuma’s lawyer Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane launched an application for Zondo to recuse himself.
He argued that Zuma had reached the conclusion “that the chairperson is no longer capable of exercising an independent and impartial mind”.
And earlier this month – after Zondo released a statement confirming he had been in a relationship with one of Zuma’s sisters-in-law in the 1990s and that they shared a child – the Jacob Zuma Foundation also issued a statement laying into Zondo and describing his disclosure as the outcome of “the advice of the hidden backroom masters and their advisors, trying in vain to do a pre-emptive strike for their man”.
“I honestly suggest that there have been times where I believe you have crossed the line when it comes to expressing your outrage as a presiding official,” Sikhakhane said.
“We understand judges must listen to frustrating things. The outrage may even be justified. But, like a judge who has to listen to cases involving the rape of a two year old, what are you meant to do? Is it open to a witness or person such as Mr Zuma to complain about what emerges from those witnesses in circumstances where he had the opportunity to apply for leave to cross examine them?” Zondo asked Sikhakhane.
Sikhakhane responded that had he applied to cross-examine Mcebisi Jonas – who was on the stand for two days – for example, saying he would have gotten an unsatisfactory hour or so to do so.
He asked for Zondo to recuse himself, saying he was “mindful of the crisis it would create” but that it was necessary in order for Zuma to give evidence.
Zondo dismissed Zuma’s claims of a friendship, saying their relationship had always been a professional one.
Zondo said he never had a one-on-one meeting with Zuma during Zuma’s nine-year tenure as president.
“Though Mr Zuma and I have a cordial relationship, Mr Zuma’s statement that we are friends is not recorded accurately. He has never been to any of my residences and I have never invited him,” said Zondo.
“Mr Zuma and I do not socialise and have never socialised together. I have never invited Mr Zuma to any of my birthday parties. I have never attended a funeral of any members of the Zuma family,” said Zondo.
In his application, Zuma argued that the pair’s relationship was a “personal” one.
Zondo strongly denied the claims.
Zuma first called on Zondo to recuse himself in September, shortly after the commission chair wanted to subpoena Zuma to appear following a series of no-shows.
(SOURCE: Inside Politics with additional reporting by REUTERS)
