Former president Jacob Zuma will not return to testify at the Zondo state capture inquiry next week, after his lawyers informed the commission that “he is ill and unable to attend the hearings”.
As yet, no date for Zuma’s long-awaited evidence has been set, and the inquiry has not responded to questions about whether he has provided a written response to the “areas of interest” he was asked to address in an 11-page document sent to his lawyers in July 2019.
Because Zuma has been invited to testify, and not subpoenaed, the inquiry cannot force him into the witness box. There are also no rules formulated by the inquiry to deal with the non-appearance of a witness due to illness – and it has, as yet, not responded to questions about whether it was given, or asked for, evidence of Zuma’s ill-health.
Zuma was scheduled to answer questions from evidence leaders for five days next week – and respond to, among other things, the evidence of the top six ANC officials about the shock dismissals of finance ministers Nhlanhla Nene and Pravin Gordhan.
ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte confirmed to Times Select’s sister publication Business Day that she has answered questions from the inquiry about Gordhan and Nene’s dismissals. This sent shockwaves through the SA political landscape and economy and ultimately led to Zuma’s political downfall.
Responding to questions about whether she would testify at the inquiry, Duarte said: “I was requested to answer questions. I did so. I have not been invited to appear personally.”
Duarte, mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe, and health minister Zweli Mkhize, who were all members of the ANC’s “top 6” structure at the time when Nene and later Gordhan were fired by Zuma, were all asked by Zondo to provide his inquiry with certain information about those dismissals.
Their responses are understood to detail how the top 6 structure was, or was not, consulted about the axing of Nene and Gordhan and what Zuma told the leadership of the ANC about why he removed both men from their positions.
The ANC has, thus far, provided limited evidence to the inquiry – with Mantashe testifying in 2018 about why the top 6 had met with various banks about their decision to terminate bank accounts belonging to the Gupta family and their businesses.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, confirmed on Tuesday he had provided an affidavit to the inquiry – detailing his account of the R500,000 donation his ANC election campaign received from corruption-accused facilities management company Bosasa, as well as his dealings with the Gupta family – in July 2018.
“No date for his appearance has been finalised yet,” Diko stated.
ANC attorney Krish Naidoo said the party was still seeking the opportunity to give evidence at the inquiry about, among other things, its policy of cadre deployment.
For now, though, it appears that Zuma is the focus of the inquiry’s attention.
In an 11-page document detailing “areas of interest” that the inquiry wants Zuma to address when he returns to answer questions about the accusations of state capture levelled against him, the dismissals of Nene and Gordhan are both identified as key topics.
At the time of publication the Zondo inquiry had not responded to questions, sent last week, about whether Duarte, Mantashe or Mkhize would be called to testify.