By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
ANC NEC member Tony Yengeni has launched a scathing attack on chief justice Raymond Zondo, accusing him of openly backing President Cyril Ramaphosa in the run-up to the ANC elective conference in December.
Yengeni wrote to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), claiming that Zondo was in breach of the Code of Judicial Conduct, for stating in the report that Ramaphosa’s election as ANC president at the party 54th national elective conference in December 2017 in Nasrec had saved the party from more damage.
In the fourth part of the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, Zondo, who chaired the commission, said more damage could have been done if Ramaphosa was not elected.
“Had it not been for the fact that at the end of 2017 the ANC would have an elective conference where Ramaphosa, who was already Deputy President of the ANC and the country, would stand as a candidate to take over from Zuma, more damage could have been done to the National Treasury under (Malusi) Gigaba than may have been done,” reads paragraph 232 of the fourth part of the State Capture Commission report.
Yengeni says that the remarks amount to political meddling and that the conclusion by Zondo was troubling in many respects.
He said Zondo was in breach of article 12(1)(b) of the Code of Judicial Conduct which says: “A judge must not, unless it is necessary for the discharge of judicial office, become involved in any political controversy or activity”.
Yengeni said that Zondo was also in breach of article 12(1)(d) which says: “A judge must not use or lend the prestige of the judicial office to advance the private interests of the judge or others”.
“First and foremost, I am not aware which witness(s) presented the testimony on the basis of which this political finding is made, “Yengeni said.
He said that this “subjective finding” demonstrated that the Chief Justice was a foray into intra-party politics, a gross violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct and, quite dangerously, may have the effect of fanning factional fires within the ruling party.
Yengeni said that this may influence delegates’ political voting patterns at the ANC’s elective conference in December 2022.
In January, Yengeni slammed Zondo for responding to a controversial op-ed by Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, in which she launched a scathing attack on the judiciary.
Sisulu attacked the Constitution and black judges in particular describing them as “mentally colonised”.
It is important to note that Sisulu has also thrown her hat in the ring for the ANC presidency with an onslaught on the judiciary and the Constitution.