Zondo DECLINES to respond to Zuma’s scathing attack on him

Former president Jacob Zuma had held a media briefing on Saturday, criticising Chief Justice Raymond Zondo

Oct 24, 2022 - 00:31
1113
Zondo DECLINES to respond to Zuma’s scathing attack on him

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has opted to not respond to former president Jacob Zuma, who launched a scathing attack on him during a media briefing on Saturday, 23 October 2022, his office has said.

“Having read Mr Zuma’s written speech, the chief justice has said that he does not intend to respond to it or to say on it further,” Zondo’s office said.

ALSO READ

ZUMA HITS OUT AT ZONDO OVER STATE CAPTURE INQUIRY

Jacob Zuma has slammed CJ Raymond Zondo, labelling him as biased and accusing him of violating his oath of office.

“Justice Zondo was not a neutral judge leading a fact-finding commission, but was running a process of writing a report that would establish the guilt of all those who had been accused of state capture because of their known association to me. In my view, justice Zondo failed the test of his oath of office… The fact that he is now sitting at the helm of our judiciary should be a matter of great concern,” Zuma said.

Zuma was sentenced to 15 months behind bars by the Constitutional Court for failing to comply with an order by the same court, directing him to appear before the commission.

Zuma says the State Capture Commission, which Zondo chaired, was never about uncovering a web of corruption during his tenure and maintains the Constitutional Court did not have the juridiction to send him to prison.

Zuma adds that his imprisonment came as part of a long campaign aimed at removing him from office and punishing me for having not pursuing the commercial interests that seek to profit at the expense of the country’s poor.

“Zondo was himself continuously making statements that suggested that he had already concluded that I was guilty of everything that I had been accused of. In that climate, I still believe that I was right to have insisted that my evidence be heard by somebody who was neutral and had not found me guilty in advance,” he said.