The state-capture commission of inquiry has told former president Jacob Zuma’s lawyers it urgently needs him to agree within five weeks to testify.
This is the latest attempt by the team charged with getting to the root of state corruption to get him to appear before it.
But Zuma’s lawyer, Daniel Mantsha, said his client continued to question the impartiality of the inquiry, while vehemently denying that the former president is not co-operating with its investigation.
For the past several months, the Zondo commission has been hearing testimony on state capture that has ensnared current and former government officials, including Zuma, who was directly implicated by at least four witnesses in bending to the will of the Gupta brothers when he was president.
If he agrees or is subpoenaed to appear before the commission, it would be the first time Zuma would be responding to direct questions related to his alleged role in state capture. He has repeatedly questioned whether state capture exists.
The inquiry, led by deputy judge president Raymond Zondo, has the power to compel Zuma to testify through the use of a subpoena but has instead chosen to “invite” him to “give his side of the story” to the evidence led thus far, in hearings scheduled for July 15 to 19.
Mantsha has, however, asked acting inquiry secretary Peter Pedlar to explain under which of the inquiry’s rules Zuma is being asked to testify.
He has also reiterated that the former president believed that the inquiry had become “politicised”. Zuma maintains there is “not one shred of evidence” that implicates him in corruption or wrongdoing.
Mantsha said suggestions that Zuma was unwilling to cooperate were “unfounded”.
“We find it unfair that the commission expects our client, having been mentioned by so many of its carefully chosen witnesses, to simply present himself without being appraised of the specific questions and issues in respect of which you require him to answer to the commission. For our client to fully and meaningfully assist the commission, he would need to be appraised of the specific areas and questions in respect of which the commission seeks his assistance.
“This will obviously enable our client to properly prepare and collate his own documentation and consult with all the relevant persons he was working with as head of state.”
It is unclear if the commission will accede to Zuma’s demands or simply compel him via a subpoena. His lawyer has accused the commission of unfairly singling out his client as someone who should testify.
Zondo has previously asked Zuma to respond to evidence given by former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor and former government communications head Themba Maseko. Both testified that Zuma was aware of unlawful efforts by the Gupta family to influence or pressure them to do the family’s bidding.
Former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene linked his shock December 2015 axing by Zuma, which sent the rand into freefall, to Zuma’s unhappiness over his resistance to a R1-trillion nuclear deal with Russia — a project he still supports, as he told Business Day earlier in 2019.
Most recently, former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi detailed how the controversial facilities management company, which is implicated in multibillion-rand tender rigging, allegedly made large cash payments to the Jacob Zuma Education Trust and sponsored a lavish birthday party for the then president.
While former SAA chair Dudu Myeni has applied to cross-examine Agrizzi over this evidence, Zuma has not.
In another letter that Business Day has seen, Pedlar has
2015 the year former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene was axed by Zuma, which sent the rand into freefall
told Mantsha it was “inevitable” that Zuma would be specifically named in the public hearings. “We point out that the terms of reference of this commission, which your client signed when he was still president, single out certain people for special mention. Those people include your client. Furthermore, a number of witnesses have mentioned your client. Also, your client was the head of state during either the years or some of the years when it is alleged that the state was captured ...
“It is also not clear to the chairperson what the basis is for your client’s view that because the chairperson may have mentioned your client’s name in regard to the work of the commission, your client should characterise that as ‘this politicisation of a judicial process’ and should find it ‘unfortunate and deeply disturbing’.”
Pedlar pointed out that Zondo had asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to provide evidence in relation to Bosasa.
He also asked Ramaphosa “to furnish an affidavit on some issue and he agreed to do so and the commission should be receiving it soon. Furthermore, President Ramaphosa has told the chairperson that he will appear before the commission.
“This was after the chairperson had informed him that it would be important he do so in due course as he was the deputy president of the ruling party and the country during some of the years during which it is alleged that acts of state capture occurred.”