Zuma expected to appear at Zondo Commission despite his concerns

FORMER president Jacob Zuma is expected to appear before the commission of inquiry into state capture this week despite his concerns about Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s partiality.

Zuma has threatened to lodge an application for Justice Zondo to recuse himself and will formally lodge it on Monday, according to his lawyer Eric Mabuza.

On Friday, commission secretary Professor Itumeleng Mosala announced that a summons had been issued and served at Zuma’s Nkandla homestead last month.

Zuma is required to appear before the commission at 10am on Monday until Friday.

“It was made clear in the summons that if Mr Zuma made arrangements to give evidence by way of a video link and subsequently appeared before the commission using the video link, he would be deemed to have complied with the summons,” said Mosala.

He said attempts by the commission to obtain a clear statement whether Zuma will comply with the summons have been unsuccessful.

“Mr Zuma’s attorneys informed the commission that Mr Zuma had not told them that he would defy the summons. The commission, however, made its position clear that he is obliged to comply with the summons and it expects him to comply,” insisted Mosala.

Zuma this week lodged his application for the recusal of Zondo. The ex-head of state is expected to answer questions from statements and evidence of several witnesses who have implicated him in state capture.

In his previous appearance before Zondo, Zuma appeared unwilling to answer some questions and complained that he was being quizzed about the work of directors-general and other government officials.

Zuma expressed his unhappiness with head of the commission’s legal team Paul Pretorius on Saturday.

“I’m being made to go through details that are details of the officials and expected to remember every other detail on the work that is generally done by directors-general and officials,” said Zuma.

He protested at the manner he was being asked questions on details he said he could not even remember properly because he was not working on those details. “I’m not sure about how to remember where the ‘i’s’ were dotted and the ‘t’s’ were crossed,” Zuma said. “If we go through the details I just have a problem because I’m no longer dealing with that allegation as it were”.

According to Zuma, he was not a Cabinet secretary taking minutes.

“I’m being cross-examined on the details very thoroughly,” he continued to object.

Zuma has butted heads with Justice Zondo over the country’s second highest judiciary officer’s child with the former president’s estranged wife Thobeka Madiba’s sister. Zondo has publicly admitted to having an affair with Madiba’s sister.