The state capture commission has asked that former president Jacob Zuma be committed to two years in prison for contempt of court.
This was to “vindicate the court’s authority and the rule of law”, said the commission’s secretary, Itumeleng Mosala, in court papers.
The commission’s urgent application was filed at the Constitutional Court on Monday after Zuma failed to turn up last week to give evidence, despite a summons and a court order from the highest court to do so.
Instead, the former president released a statement justifying his refusal to appear, which lashed out at judges, saying some had betrayed their oath of office for political expediency.
Calling the Constitutional Court judgment a “travesty of justice”, Zuma said it was a betrayal of the constitution and had created a separate jurisprudence that applied only to him. He also accused judges of sealing court documents to protect President Cyril Ramaphosa and to protect other judges because those court documents may show they were corrupt.
Mosala said this statement, and an earlier one in February after the Constitutional Court judgment, indicated Zuma “considers himself above the law, or subject to a different rule of law than that which applies to everyone else”.
“It would be an extremely serious matter for anyone to act under this belief, but it is especially serious and dangerous for a former president to adopt this stance,” said Mosala.
As the highest court in the land, with special moral authority in our constitutional democracy, I respectfully submit that it is necessary for this court to step in and defend the judiciary as a whole against Mr Zuma’s unwarranted attacks.
— State capture commission secretary Itumeleng Mosala
The highest court had jurisdiction to hear the contempt application, as it was the court that granted the initial order Zuma had breached. It was also in the interests of justice for the highest court to hear this application because his conduct had violated the dignity of the Constitutional Court and its judges specifically, and the judiciary generally, he said.
“As the highest court in the land, with special moral authority in our constitutional democracy, I respectfully submit that it is necessary for this court to step in and defend the judiciary as a whole against Mr Zuma’s unwarranted attacks.”
Mosala added that the commission wanted a punitive order of imprisonment because Zuma had committed a number of contemptuous acts — failing to turn up when he was summoned to, failing to file affidavits as per the Constitutional Court’s order and the “scurrilous statements”.
He said this was “no ordinary case of contempt” as Zuma’s conduct was “calculated to undermine the integrity of this court and the judiciary in general”.
The two-year period of committal also needed to reflect the expectation of society that a person in a leadership position “with immense influence should comply with the law rather than displaying contempt of the law”.
“As a former president and leader of the Republic, Mr Zuma is expected to set an example by his word and conduct,” he said.
If the highest court thinks it’s appropriate to suspend the two-year committal order to give Zuma a chance to give evidence, the commission would need to make special logistical arrangements, said Mosala.
