Image: Veli Nhlapo
Former president Jacob Zuma has vowed not to co-operate with the state capture commission despite a ruling by the Constitutional Court compelling him to do so.
This decision will put Zuma squarely in contempt of the highest court in the land.
In a statement released by the Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma Foundation on Monday, the former statesman says he does not fear going to prison should his decision to not co-operate with the commission be considered a violation of the law.
“If this stance is considered to be a violation of their law, then let their law take its course,” Zuma said.
“I do not fear being arrested, I do not fear being convicted nor do I fear being incarcerated.”
The apex court last week ruled that Zuma has to not only appear before the commission but must answer questions posed to him. It said in its judgment that Zuma does not have a right to remain silent when he appears.
He says he was detained by the apartheid government during struggle where he served 10 years on Robben Island.
“I had never imagined that there would come a time when a democratic government in SA built on Constitutional values would behave exactly like the apartheid government in creating legal processes designed to target specific individuals in society.
“Witnessing this carries a much more amplified pain when realising that it is now a black liberated government behaving in this way against one of their own,” Zuma said.
Zuma still contends that his decision not to participate with the commission still rests on his contention that chairperson, deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, is conflicted, biased and should recuse himself.
He still maintains his earlier argument that the previous personal relationship with Zondo renders him unfit to hear his evidence and will therefore not appear before him.
“I have never said that I do not want to appear before the commission but have said that I cannot appear before Deputy Chief Justice Zondo because of a well-founded apprehension of bias and a history of personal relations between the Deputy Chief Justice and myself,” Zuma said.
“I have taken the decision by the Deputy Chief Justice not to recuse himself on review as I believe his presiding over the proceedings does not provide me the certainty of a fair and just hearing.”
The commission, according to Zuma, is specifically designed to investigate him. It should, therefore, be named the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture against Jacob Zuma “as it has been obviously established to investigate me specifically,” he charges.
BY Kgothatso Madisa
