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Did President Zuma Walk Out On Zondo Or It Was A Trap?

Brian Kazungu

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Former South African president Jacob Zuma walked out on Deputy Chief Justice Zondo during a state capture inquiry yesterday thus further putting the justice system in South Africa to another test.

The incident aroused a diversity of comments and views from people who have been following the case, with some, including the Justice Zondo himself saying it is a serious matter but others especially from the Jacob Zuma foundation praising the former president actions.

Zuma is essentially insisting on a friendship with Zondo on the pretext that he Zuma has been severally accused of appointing his friends or influenced to appoint people to certain positions of influence and thus can argue why only Zondo whom he also appointed cannot be his friend in this case.

Zondo on the other hand is refusing he allegation of friendship with the former president and thus causing a lot of speculation on the matter.

Could it be that Zuma intentionally appointed Zondo in order to expose judiciary capture and bias or he was blindfolded by power behind the scenes to think that Zondo was indeed a friend?

Some members of a legal literacy initiative under the Connections2Communities (C2C) platform compared the appointment of Justice Zondo to that of Van Royen saying “If Zuma could appoint Van Royen to be the Minister of Finance., what could be the difference with the appointment of Zondo?”

This follows a video posted on social media in which so many angles to the Zuma and Zondo debacle have been proffered.

“Zuma has always been alleged to appoint friends or is said to be influenced by friends in his so called irregular appointments and so if in terms of the SA constitution, the right to appoint is vested in the president, of which at that time Zuma was the president, could he have just used a different method on Zondo alone?” Asked a member of C2C.

Connections2Communities (C2C) is an initiative which seeks to build community power around effective problem solving on matters of interest including civic, corporate and governance issues.

Yesterday, Justice Zondo confirmed that before the appointment could take place, he had to meet President Zuma to put a signature in order to legitimise what could have been otherwise an unconstitutional appointment.

In order to answer this simple but complex question of whether Zuma and Zondo are friends or not, one is compelled to test whether or not Zondo was an enemy of Zuma by further asking on whether Zuma would have agreed to appoint Zondo, a seemingly good man who would potentially investigate him in the future?

Zuma, under the state capture commission is being investigated for the same crime of appointing people at the instigation of others including the Guptas and yet Zondo must appear as a clean appointment.

As such, it would be necessary to ask if it is imaginable that Zuma would have been induced to appoint a person who would aggressively investigate him. The answer is No

If Zuma could not intentionally make a decision that would backfire on him, could it be that he was manipulated by an underhand mechanism to appoint Zondo thus such an appointment a product of judiciary interference which raises deep constitutional questions?

The Chief Justice in the country did not possess the legal authority to appoint a Deputy Chief Justice since that power was only a reserve of the president.

If these two are not friends and Zuma is known irregular appointments, it means Zuma was forced to appoint or rubber stamp the Deputy Chief Justice’s appointment against the provisions of the constitution.

Zuma has previously questioned the legality and legitimacy of the Zondo Commission which according to his utterances, it clearly seems to target him.

One can ask whether Zuma had naively thought that Zondo was truly his friend or he simply acquiesced to the possibility of judiciary capture that was aimed at stripping him of the powers to protect himself from not being able to appoint his enemies.

There seems to be no common ground between Zondo and Zuma on what the whole purpose of the commission was about since it now appears that Zuma did not voluntarily appoint a commission, let alone Zondo to be the head.

The role of the Chief Justice and the former Public Protector in the appointment of Justice Zondo becomes an issue of interest in piercing the veil around the appointment of Justice Zondo and in understanding the political dynamics of the judiciary system in the country.

Brian Kazungu is an Author, Poet, Journalist, and Technology Enthusiast whose writing covers issues to do with Business, Travelling, Motivation and Inspiration, Religion, Politics, and Communication among others. https://www.amazon.com/author/briankazungu https://muckrack.com/brian-kazungu http://www.modernghana.com/author/BrianKazungu [email protected] @BKazungu-Twitter He has written and published several books covering various aspects of human life including leadership, entrepreneurship, politics, personal development as well as poetry and travel. These books are found on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/author/briankazungu

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