Zondo is a political charlatan, says KZN ANC

Chief justice 'has shown the public a middle finger by disregarding the separation of powers principle': provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo

28 March 2023 - 12:05
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Chief justice Raymond Zondo can no longer be seen as impartial in adjudicating matters involving the ANC, says the party's KZN secretary Bheki Mtolo. File photo.
Chief justice Raymond Zondo can no longer be seen as impartial in adjudicating matters involving the ANC, says the party's KZN secretary Bheki Mtolo. File photo.
Image: Freddy Mavunda

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal says chief justice Raymond Zondo is playing opposition politics. 

Party secretary Bheki Mtolo on Tuesday ripped into Zondo’s assertions that the government had betrayed the values of OR Tambo and his generation's ideals.

The chief justice, who chaired the commission of inquiry into state capture, was critical of government corruption when he delivered the OR Tambo public lecture at the University of Fort Hare on Friday.

His comments struck a nerve with the ANC, with Mtolo saying Zondo can no longer be seen as impartial in adjudicating matters involving the party. 

“It is becoming very clear that justice Zondo sees himself as above everybody else in our country. He is a referee, a player, a goalkeeper, an assistant referee all in one. He is a jack of all trades. He has now descended to nothing else but a pure political charlatan [whose true intentions must be exposed],” the secretary said. 

Mtolo said while he understood Zondo held political views, the chief justice should know better than to enter the political arena. 

“It was not only strange but reckless of the chief justice to use OR Tambo, who was a politician and a stalwart of the ANC, to attack the very same ANC, its leaders and its government,” he said.

“He has shown the public a middle finger by disregarding the separation of powers principle between the executive, judiciary and legislative branches of government.”

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