Johannesburg – Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo this week scolded a witness for not wearing a jacket when the “poor” man came to testify before the commission of inquiry into state capture.
By his account, Phumlane Nkosi, an Armscor mechanical engineer since 2009, is a decent man but Justice Zondo reprimanded him for not wearing a jacket on Wednesday.
A jacket had to be hurried to a seemingly stunned Nkosi, who was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a tie, and Zondo’s sensibilities were appeased.
Zondo’s soft censure of Nkosi also sparked an intense, if not a brief encounter, debate on social media on whether witnesses should be subjected to such treatment considering this week’s relentless heat wave that hit Joburg, the site of commission hearings.
Some observers even likened Zondo’s actions to an unerased colonial mentality while others defended his decision as “protocol”.
Mthiyane, Justice Zondo’s clan name, must have been girding for a much bigger battle when he admonished Nkosi.
Zondo clarifies ’family link’ with Zuma
The man who appointed him to the Constitutional Court in 2012, former president Jacob Zuma, has been looming large at the commission like a dark shadow threatening a mini-collapse to its processes and possibly providing a blueprint for all state capture accused and enablers.
Justice Zondo, an experienced and deceptively unassuming jurist, confessed to a lovechild he had with Zuma’s now estranged wife Thobeka Madiba’s sister but categorically stated that he sired the child long before the ex-president got hitched to his son’s aunt.
The main man at the sprawling, partly taxpayer-spruced KwaDakwadunuse homestead in KwaNxamalala, Nkandla, had earlier sought to use Justice Zondo’s relationship with the former first lady’s sister as a sign that the country’s second highest judicial officer was biased against Duduzane’s father.
More money to finalise state capture probe
The commission received a R63 million boost this week to finalise its investigations and produce a close-out report, according to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni
But the estimates of national expenditure released during Mboweni’s medium-term budget policy statement show that the commission’s millions are for “investigators’ expenses”.
Zondo is almost certain to have another tough week ahead.
Dudu Myeni to appear before inquiry
Controversial former SAA chairperson and Zuma confidante Dudu Myeni is due to testify in the Zondo commission next week.
A number of witnesses have implicated the businesswoman from Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, in a string of irregular and illegal actions.
Denel in the spotlight over Gupta-linked firm
This past week, state-owned aerospace and military technology company Denel was under scrutiny largely for its executives’ apparent favour of Gupta-owned company VR Laser.
Former Denel Land Systems supply chain management executive Celia Malahlela, who testified this week, described Denel as “strategic and critical”.
Race to replace Chief Justice
Zondo, a hard but easy-going taskmaster, judging by his prodding at nervous witnesses and his uncompromising evidence leaders, also faces another battle as the race to replace his boss, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, is intensifying.
Zondo’s distinguished predecessor, Dikgang Moseneke, who was twice overlooked for the top job, recently publicly stating that he would not have a “problem” with a female Chief Justice, a process initiated and finally approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Over to you, Mr. President.
Political Bureau