Zondo praises Ramaphosa for availing himself to the commission

Chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ) Raymond Zondo, has praised President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC, for availing himself to the inquiry.

Speaking after Ramaphosa’s closing statement, Zondo said as far as he could remember, no sitting president had ever appeared before a commission of inquiry.

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He expressed admiration for the fact that the ruling party, through Ramaphosa, was supporting the commission and that they had come to the proceedings voluntarily.

Ramaphosa appeared at the commission on Wednesday and Thursday, in his capacity as president of the ANC. He is due to appear next month in his capacity as former deputy president and current president of the country.

Top officials of the party have been in attendance throughout Ramaphosa’s testimony, such as ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe, deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte, treasurer-general Paul Mashatile, and former justice minister Jeff Radebe.

“They knew that some of the things to come out of the commission would not be easy to deal with but nevertheless concluded that it was a process that they should support,” Zondo said.

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“It’s something that suggests that the ruling party wants to account to the nation through this commission.”

Zondo was speaking after Ramaphosa paid tribute to Isaac Mogase in his closing statement. Mogase was the first mayor of Johannesburg in democratic South Africa, who passed away recently.

Just before Zondo’s remarks, Ramaphosa also touched on the novelty of a sitting president appearing at a commission of inquiry.

“For a sitting president to come to a commission such as this is one, some say it’s unheard of. But we felt it was good to come, both as  president of the governing party as well as president of the country.

“As the ANC,  we support the work of this  commission and affirm our total commitment to provide assistance  to the commission to do this work, and with this, I thank you [Zondo],” Ramaphosa said.