Johannesburg – Former President Jacob Zuma has run out of legal avenues to duck answering questions at the Zondo Commission after the Constitutional Court today ruled that he must honor summonses issued by the Commission.
Zuma has stubbornly refused to appear before the Commission, where he has been implicated by more than 30 witnesses in the state capture project.
The highest court in the land ruled that Zuma did not have the right to remain silent in proceedings before the commission, potentially ending a long standoff between the erstwhile president and the Commission probing state capture.
Zuma has been ordered to pay the Commission’s legal costs and those of the two counsels
Zuma notoriously walked out of the Commission’s proceedings in November after his bid to have the inquiry’s chairperson, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo was denied.
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Zondo was dismayed at Zuma’s apparent walkout.
“It is a pity that he has elected to leave without asking for permission,” Zondo said at the time. “This is a serious matter.”
“The respondent’s conduct in defying the process lawfully issued under the authority of the law is antithetical to our constitutional order. We must remember that this is a Republic of laws where the Constitution is supreme. Disobeying its laws amounts to a direct breach of the rule of law, one of the values underlying the Constitution and which forms part of the supreme law,” Justice Jafta said in a judgement of the court.
“In our system, no one is above the law. Even those who had the privilege of making laws are bound to respect and comply with those laws. For as long as they are in force, laws must be obeyed,” he added.
The country’s apex court ordered Zuma to obey all summonses and directives lawfully issued by the commission and was directed to appear and give evidence before it on dates determined by the inquiry.
The former president, who was ordered to pay the costs of the commission’s legal representatives, did not have a right to remain silent in proceedings before the commission. However, Zuma was entitled to all privileges under section 3(4) of the Commissions Act, including the privilege against self-incrimination.
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