South Africa’s Commission of Inquiry into State Capture will lay a criminal complaint against former president Jacob Zuma for failing to appear before it on 18 January, Commission chairperson and Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo announced on Wednesday.
In making the announcement, Zondo warned Zuma that his failure to appear before it at his next appointment on 15 February would enlist further action against him.
The chairperson said he made this decision in response to the former president’s Monday statement saying that he would defy Friday’s Constitutional Court order compelling him to appear before the commission.
According to Zondo, Zuma’s failure to attend the Commission hearings displayed “a complete disregard for the rights and interests that South Africans have, to obtain comprehensive responses from him to evidence regarding allegations of State capture, corruption and fraud.”
He said that Zuma’s failure to appear before his Commission was unacceptable, particularly when considering that he was a former state president of the country who should be exemplary in upholding the rule of law and the Constitution.
Weighing in on the issue, opposition Economic Freedom Front leader Julius Malema urged Zuma to appear before the inquiry body, saying that his “ill-advised decision” to boycott it was likely to set a dangerous precedent for the country.
Some of Zuma’s supporters, however, are fully behind his decision not to appear before the Zondo Commission due to its perceived bias against the former freedom fighter.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association on Wednesday said it pledged its support for the former president.
Association leader Kebby Maphatsoe said the Zondo Commission was established “with the sole purpose of portraying Zuma as the face of corruption” in the country.
NM/jn/APA