Former president Jacob Zuma “has done nothing wrong and the African National Congress (ANC) party will not take any action against him,” ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said in Soweto on Thursday.
Magashule said this following reports that the former president should be summoned by the party to be disciplined for his refusal to appear before the Commission of Inquiry for State Capture which is probing the theft of public funds under Zuma’s nine-year rule that ended in 2018.
Zuma had requested the Constitutional Court to stop the commission from demanding his attendance at the inquiry’s hearings.
The court, however, ruled that the former president had no choice but to attend the commission’s hearings as a witness in “a matter of public interest” following testimony implicating him in alleged state capture activities.
Responding to the court’s ruling that he should attend the proceedings, Zuma has said that he would defy the judgment, adding that the court was “politicised” in ruling against him.
Magashule, speaking to reporters in Soweto, said there was no reason for Zuma to be disciplined and to be suspended from the ruling ANC for his defiance of the Constitutional Court ruling compelling him to appear before the commission.
“Leave Comrade Zuma alone. Just leave him. Why should we suspend a person who believes in what he believes in from the party?
“Why should I call him to order? What has he done wrong?” Magashule shot back at a reporter following a question.
According to him, “there is no structure of the ANC, be it in the province or region, which can call for Zuma to be disciplined. They (Zuma’s critics) are out of order.”
Zuma’s next appearance is on 15 February.
His no-show on this date would add more legal problems for the former president following the Commission’s announcement on Wednesday that it would lodge a legal complaint against him for his failure to appear before it on 15 January, Commission Chair and Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo warned Zuma.
NM/jn/APA