POLL | Zondo's recusal ruling — what do you think he will say?
The deputy chief justice postponed the recusal ruling for the third time
South Africans have speculated on whether deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo will recuse himself as chairperson of the state capture commission of inquiry after a third postponement of his ruling.
Zondo was expected to deliver the ruling on Tuesday morning but postponed this, saying “I still have quite some documentation to go through carefully.” He committed to announcing the ruling on Wednesday morning but delayed this to the afternoon.
Minutes before he was due to make the ruling, the commission released a statement saying Zondo would make the ruling on Thursday morning. The commission attributed the delay to former president Jacob Zuma's response on Monday.
The commission on Monday heard Zuma's application, through his lawyer Muzi Sikhakhane, for “biased” Zondo to recuse himself from it. The former president has claimed that he and Zondo were once friends and that this resulted in a conflict of interest.
Zondo denied this, saying he and Zuma had a “cordial” relationship.
“Though Mr Zuma and I have a cordial relationship, Mr Zuma’s statement that we are friends is not recorded accurately. He has never been to any of my residences and I have never invited him.
“Mr Zuma and I do not socialise and have never socialised together. I have never invited Mr Zuma to any of my birthday parties. I have never attended a funeral of any members of the Zuma family,” he said.
On Monday, Sikhakhane said Zondo's comments about Zuma at the commission made the former president feel as though the inquiry was out to “lynch him”.
“I am not suggesting you've prejudged this matter in any way. I am saying to you in your comments in his absence, I want you to walk with me and look at whether a reasonable person, accused as he is, would be unreasonable to feel the forum seeks to punish him, lynch him, to agree with people who have come here to lynch him,” Sikhakhane said.
On social media, some predicted that Zondo would step down from the commission, while others questioned the relationship between him and Zuma.
Here are some of the reactions:
Deputy Chief Justice delivered judgement on an application for his recusal from the State Capture Commission, brought forward by former president Jacob Zuma on November 19 2020. But things took a turn after the former president left the commission during an adjournment.
Zondo will today learn that judgments based on media headlines will never hold. They misled him into clarifying about his private life
— Sphithiphithi Evaluator (@_AfricanSoil) November 18, 2020
Zuma didn't even say that, he wouldn't drag a child; but Zondo dragged his own child and "ex-woman". He couldn't even say mother of my son
Judge Zondo is getting wrong advices from wrong people,I have a feeling they are setting him up for failure,he will never be a Chief Justice,going after Zuma is going to be his downfall,Zuma is a seasoned politicians who dribbled the boers while Zondo was crying for a law degree
— Nathi Sithole (@Nathi_MfokaJobe) November 18, 2020
Zondo’s postponement probably has little to do with whether he should recuse himself. I think he was ready to tell us that he is not going to recuse himself. The postponement was forced by the fact that the answering affidavit of Zuma’s legal team challenges his version.
— Aubrey Matshiqi (@MatshiqiAubrey) November 18, 2020
The problem is that Zondo keeps trying to read Nxamalala's game plan, in doing so he mentions things that he assumes Nxamalala will talk about & then Zuma is like "Hhay Chief, I wasn't referring to that, but while we are there since you denying this, you remember that?" 😂😂😂😂
— Baba kaS'fonyo (@Mtamerri) November 18, 2020
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