Zondo: There was no other option but to hold Zuma in contempt for defiance of ConCourt order
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said he was blindsided by Zuma’s defiance of the Constitutional Court’s order to appear before the commission, which Zondo chaired, and answer questions put to him, but that there was never any question of what had to be done.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. Picture: Jacques Nelles/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has spoken about the difficulties of navigating former President Jacob Zuma’s conduct at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry, saying in the end, there was no other option but to ask the Constitutional Court to hold him in contempt.
He said he was blindsided by Zuma’s defiance of the Constitutional Court’s order to appear before the commission, which Zondo chaired, and answer questions put to him, but that there was never any question of what had to be done.
In a wide-ranging interview with Eyewitness News ahead of his upcoming retirement, Zondo said Zuma got the same treatment anyone else would have if they did what he did.
After all other attempts to get him to the State Capture Commission of Inquiry failed, the former president was eventually subpoenaed but then staged a dramatic walk-out when an application he’d brought for Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s recusal as chair was dismissed.
This was the most difficult position Zondo found himself in, in that role.
Ultimately, Zuma was again subpoenaed, this time around, though, the commission also turned to the Constitutional Court for an order compelling him to comply.
"Of course, later on, even after we obtained an order from the Constitutional Court, he defied it. That was something completely unexpected. I would have never thought that anybody would ever defy an order of the Constitutional Court, not to speak of somebody who had been president of the country. And there, too, I had to make a decision as to what we would do."
Zondo said this wasn’t as difficult a decision to grapple with, though.
"Because my approach was: 'What will be done is what is normally done in the courts when somebody defies an order of court'. And when I announced that we would apply to the Constitutional Court for contempt of court, I emphasised that this is what gets done."
Zondo foresaw there could be challenges but said it was clear to him it was the only option and that he had to do what was required in terms of the law.