Inquiry I established is illegal, says Zuma

FORMER president Jacob Zuma has labelled the state capture inquiry report “a classical case of the fruits of a poisoned tree” for implicating him in corruption committed during his term with alleged accomplices, the Gupta brothers.

Zuma said the commission, established by him in August 2018 and which cost the state almost R1 billion, was unlawful.

He said it fell short of concrete evidence, therefore, he would be challenging findings of the report that relate to him and his legal team would be reporting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo to the Judicial Service Commission in a week or two.

Zondo handed over the final section of the inquiry report to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday. The final report was in two parts and covered the SABC, Parliament, the Vrede Dairy Project, the State Security Agency, the ANC as well as the unlawful landing of the Gupta family at the Waterkloof Air Force Base.

Zuma was scheduled to appear before the media, but due to his medical parole conditions which forbid him to be in a gathering outside his residence, he was represented by his daughter, Duduzile, the Jacob Zuma Foundation as well as his legal team led by advocate Dali Mpofu.

The foundation’s spokesperson, Mzwanele Manyi, accused Zondo of being biased and said the report, which painted Zuma as the enabler and supporter of corruption and state capture, was irrational and unlawful.

He said there was no tangible evidence linking Zuma to corruption and they wanted the Judicial Service Commission to investigate Zondo. He said Zuma would also be taking the findings that relate to him on review.

“To say Chief Justice Zondo is unworthy of being called a judge would be a serious understatement. Chief Justice Zondo fails the most basic of the tests even for the most junior judge,” said Manyi.

“No self-respecting judge worthy of that title sits in a case where he or she is directly affected and demonstrably conflicted in order to settle personal scores.”

“The foundation has also separately instructed its own lawyers to look into the possibility of challenging the unlawful appointment of Justice Zondo as the chief justice of South Africa in spite of his dismal performance at the JSC interviews as observed by millions of South Africans on national television,”he said.

Political analyst, Dr Imraan Buccus, said the Jacob Zuma Foundation was clutching at straws and that the stance taken by Manyi, when in fact the commission had been established by the former president, was surprising. He said there was ample evidence to indicate that Zuma and his allies had been corrupt.

“The commission was comprehensive and it went to great lengths to reduce the report that it had. For many South Africans, the commission was a pivotal moment in our history and South Africans were looking to the outcomes that lead to prosecution, putting behind a dark period in our history,” said Buccus.