Former president Jacob Zuma has agreed to make himself available to the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture in July.
However, there is no guarantee that the former head of state would testify or answer any questions when he appeared between 15 and 19 July, The Business Day reported quoting Zuma’s lawyer Daniel Mantsha.
Zuma, who has until now refused to answer specific questions on alleged state capture during his term in office, has been implicated by several witnesses including including former GCIS director-general Themba Maseko and former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene.
The Commission had threatened to subpoena Zuma if he failed to appear.
The Commission has also refused Zuma’s request to be notified of questions beforehand, saying he had no right to be furnished with questions as his lawyers have already been given a section 3.3 notice according to the Commission’s rules which contains affidavits of all the persons who have implicated him.
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In a statement last Thursday, the Commission, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, said it was enough that the former president would be afforded an opportunity to state his side of the story in response to certain identified witnesses who testified or gave statements or affidavits about issues that relate to him.
In a letter to the Commission, seen by News24, Zuma’s lawyer said the decision to issue a media statement amounted to “nothing but a disinformation campaign and an unfortunate attempt at instigating the public against our client.”
“This has left us with the distinct impression that you seek your truth and to deliver our client to the commission for public display and in order to ambush and humiliate him rather than to fulfil the mandate of the commission as set out in the terms of reference,” Mantsha wrote.
Zuma has been implicated in corruption and allegations of state capture by several witnesses including former ministers, state-owned enterprise officials and former members of Parliament.
