By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Acting chief justice Raymond Zondo says Monday’s front-page article in The Star newspaper on his meetings with former president Jacob Zuma has no factual basis and is biased against him.
The article, which appeared alongside a doctored picture of Zondo captioned “Justice Pinocchio”, claimed the chair of the commission of inquiry into state capture flip-flopped at Friday’s Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interview for the chief justice post on his face-to-face meetings with Zuma.
“The Acting Chief Justice points out that as long ago as the 16th of November 2020 he had disclosed that he had previously met with Zuma. He did this by way of a statement he read into the record of the proceedings of the Commission on that day. The statement was made available to the media on the same day,” said Zondo in a statement on Wednesday.
Zondo’s relationship with Zuma came into question during the Chief Justice interviews last week after commissioner Julius Malema asked if Zondo had extended an invitation in person to Zuma to come and testify before the state capture commission before things turned sour.
Zondo responded: “I didn’t meet with Zuma [to ask him to come to testify at the commission], but with the current president, I would meet with him from time to time to tell him what was happening with the commission in terms of if there were challenges or if there was to be an extension, so it was during one of those times when I told him [to come and testify]. With regards to Zuma, I think we wrote a letter to him or his lawyers, I can’t remember if it was first to him or his lawyers and invited him to come and give evidence.”
MEDIA STATEMENT ISSUED AT THE INSTANCE OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE COMMISSIO #StateCaptureInquiry pic.twitter.com/o4lF3ItMy7
— State Capture Commission (@StateCaptureCom) February 9, 2022
In November last year, Zondo admitted having met Zuma, but denied having a close relationship with him.
He was responding to Zuma’s application to have Zondo recuse himself as commission chair.
“Zuma’s statement that we are friends is not accurate,”Zondo said at the time.
There were two or more occasions when Zuma was not in government when he asked for a meeting with me and I agreed to meet him. I think this would have been somewhere between 2005 and 2007. He was staying in a hotel in Durban and I met him.
“When Zuma’s late wife passed on many years ago, I, like many other people did go to his official residence as the then deputy president to see the family.”
“I’ve got no relationship with former president Jacob Zuma. I went to have a meeting with him to discuss matters of national interest.”