State capture report: Zondo too desperate to be next Chief Justice, says EFF

State Capture Commission Chair Justice Raymond Zondo’s supposed desperation to become the next Chief Justice has compromised parts of the report handed over to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday, according to the Economic Freedom Fighters.

While welcoming what is part one of the three parts report that will be submitted to Ramaphosa, the EFF said Zondo was hellbent on becoming the next Chief Justice, to the point that he was “prepared to compromise the cutting, objective and uncompromising analysis required by justice in order to further his personal career interests.”

The party said that Zondo was found wanting on Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan’s inconsistency and contradictions regarding former Sars Commissioner Tom Moyane’s complaint against him with the South African Police Services (Saps).

“His claim that he confused the case numbers could never hold as evidence to absolve someone of false claims to the commission. This should have rendered Gordhan’s testimony on Moyane and Sars as illegitimate.

READ: First part of state capture report finally available to public

“Gordhan was most unreliable, conflicted, idiotic, and agitated when it came to Sars and Moyane. No other witness could have been so dishonestly sanitised by Zondo after the entire country witnessed his dismal performance.

“In any way, taken the evidence gathered by Mr. Williams on the collaborative plan by Zuma, Moyane and Bain, Zondo didn’t really need Gordhan on Sars.

“Even to arrive to the conclusions regarding the collapse of governance within Sars, there were many witnesses other than Gordhan. It leaves us with no other conclusion except that Zondo seeks to portray Gordhan as an anti-corruption hero,” reads the party’s statement.

It said that Zondo’s dishonesty and bias on Gordhan also exposes him as incapable of the objectivity required for a Constitutional Court Justice.

Furthermore the party said Zondo can’t even consider simple, but nonetheless, fundamental questions, such as:

• If Gordhan is such a spotless hero of anti-corruption, how come he participated in the corrupt Zuma cabinet until his personal career was at risk?
• Is not his new found anti-corruption conveniently created by the fact of his rejection and firing by Zuma?
• Why was he prepared to work in his cabinet despite evidence that the Guptas captured him whilst Gordhan was his cabinet minister?
• Why did Zuma entrust him with the National Treasury?

The Red Berets say that these questions never attained significance in the report, even when it comes to witnesses like Mcebisi Jonas. 

The party has since complained that Zondo was selective in his report that he treated witnesses like Gordhan with kid gloves in a desperate attempt to become the next Chief Justice.

“This is key because we believe that Zondo is in a desperate campaign to become a Chief Justice… We predict that he will therefore treat Ramaphosa with kids’ (sic) gloves in an attempt to appease him so that he can make him the Chief Justice.”

While the party said that it is looking forward to the remaining two parts of the report, they remain concerned about what the report will say on Ramaphosa, and will “not allow the Commission which was brought about by the sacrifices of our people to be reduced to a recruitment agency by Zondo and Ramaphosa.”