South Africa

ANALYSIS

Zuma may finally have met his match in Zondo Commission secretary Itumeleng Mosala

Zuma may finally have met his match in Zondo Commission secretary Itumeleng Mosala
Zondo Commission secretary Itumeleng Mosala. (Photo: State Capture Commission)

Mosala has clearly been instrumental in the new political and legal clarity that marked the commission’s stance in relation to the former president since he left a hearing without permission in November last year.

It may have asked the Constitutional Court to sentence Jacob Zuma to two years in prison for contempt – but Zondo Commission secretary Itumeleng Mosala says that if criminally charged, the former president could sit for 4½ years. And that’s just for contempt.

After being mollycoddled for months by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, the chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, the secretary has brought a stiff new spine to its deliberations on the serial delinquent former president.

In his submission to the Constitutional Court, lodged on Monday, February 22, Mosala took no prisoners in legal language that revealed the gravity of the crisis Zuma has occasioned by refusing to testify or submit affidavits to the commission he set up while president.  

“As a former President and leader of the Republic, Mr Zuma is expected to set an example by his words and conduct. He has the position and influence to do so, as others look up to him as a leader. 

“When Mr Zuma undermines the integrity and authority of this Court and the judicial system as a whole, there is a grave risk that he will inspire others to do so and that the rule of law will be fundamentally weakened,” said Mosala.

He points out to the judges who will hear the application, which the commission has requested be done urgently, that if criminally liable, Zuma could face a potential jail term that is much longer. 

Non-compliance with a summons or directive of the commission are punishable by imprisonment of up to six to 12 months, said Mosala in his affidavit.  He explained that: “…it must be taken into account that on each day – of the five days reserved – that Mr Zuma failed to appear, he was committing a new offence of violating the summons.

“Had he been tried in a criminal court for breach of the summons… the appropriate sentence would have been factored in that each day of non-appearance would be a violation of the summons,” said Mosala.  

“Thus viewed, Mr Zuma would in a criminal court, in fact, be liable to a combined period of four years and six months if he had been tried and sentenced to the maximum period allowed,” said Mosala.

In other words, he is telling the judges that the commission could have requested a longer sentence.

In his affidavit, drafted with the commission’s legal team, Mosala repeatedly quotes Zuma’s social media statements. The former leader has insulted and attacked the judiciary for an alleged bias against him but never offered any evidence for this.

“Mr Zuma has not spared the rest of the judiciary from his attack. He has published scurrilous statements about the courts and certain other members of the judiciary too. As the highest court in the land, with special moral authority in our constitutional democracy, I respectfully submit that it is necessary for this Court to step in to defend the judiciary as a whole against Mr Zuma’s unwarranted attacks,” he says.

In Mosala, Zuma may finally have met his match. Mosala is a former president of the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) and from the leadership generation of Steve Biko. Zuma’s inchoate allegations of racism and comparison of himself and his legal troubles to the hounding of Pan Africanist Congress leader Robert Sobukwe by the apartheid regime will fall flat in the face of Mosala’s history.

With a doctorate in philosophy from UCT and an MA from Manchester University, Mosala has clearly been instrumental in the new political and legal clarity that marked the Zondo Commission’s stance in relation to the former president since he left a hearing without permission in November last year.

Because Mosala is from a different political tradition to cadres of the ANC (the first commission secretary was an ANC leader), he is more independent and has steered the commission in that direction too.

In its papers, the commission cites Police Minister Bheki Cele and the national police commissioner as the second and third respondents. This may be because a criminal charge lodged by the commission at the Hillbrow police station when Zuma went awol in November 2020, has mysteriously landed up with the Hawks, where the police investigation has gone nowhere in three months.

Whether or not the former president ends up in orange overalls is anyone’s guess, but Mosala’s role has added a new dimension to the commission’s search for State Capture justice and an end to impunity. DM

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Comments - Please in order to comment.

  • Tom Lessing says:

    The hawks? They are good at arresting alleged car scratchers.

  • Con Tester says:

    Good move, implicating Bheki Cele and Khehla Sithole. I think they may be in for a stern lashing from the ConCourt for doing their jobs selectively. If nothing else, this Zuma fiasco is pushing the corrupt elite’s arrogant presumption of a special dispensation for themselves onto the public stage where everyone can see its conceit and hideousness exposed. One can only hope that a good portion of the public is paying attention and sees it for what it is.

  • Nic Tsangarakis says:

    Well done Mr Mosala.

  • Sergio CPT says:

    Great stuff! Until zuma and his obnoxious ilk hit a brick wall, they will carry on with the cowardly and deceitful shenanigans. Well done Mr Mosala! It is time to stop this disgraceful circus and put this country on the correct path!

  • Carsten Rasch says:

    At last someone with a spine and a will appears. Well done Mr Mosala, and whoever appointed you. Take it to the bridge…

  • Coen Gous says:

    What an superb article by Ms. Haffajee. Perhaps the best one of the week, short as it is. Once again, the Commission on State Capture stand out in the sterling job they are doing, lead by Deputy Chief Justice Zondo. By appointing Mr. Mosala, an ex-ANC leader and cadre, Justice Zondo once again illustrated how serious he take this commission, and Mr. Mosala is indeed a very credible appointment. Mr. Mosala, I salute you for the courage it takes to take those criminally implicated head on, including the former Head of State, Zuma, as well as the Minister of Police, and the national police commissioner, who failed dismally in overseeing this extremely serious criminal charge against Zuma. May the Commission one day reap the fruit of their hard work and dedication.

  • Nos Feratu says:

    Congratulations to both author and authee(?). Awesome attack Mr (Dr) Mosala an a full G to the author. (No half measures here!)

  • Kanu Sukha says:

    As for seeing the former president in ‘orange overalls’ … might not the EFF offer him red ones instead ? Or are the orange ones more of a fashion statement ?

    • Bruce Sobey says:

      Orange are overalls are for convicted criminals. I would be happy to see him in the lime green awaiting trial overalls for a start. At least then he could not go AWOL.

      • Helen Lachenicht says:

        I had to think, only a moment about the pros and cons of Zuma going AWOL: I guess 1st prize in that possibility, would be his absence would limit his sycophants rallying and disrupting peace and order in his cause?

  • Caroline White says:

    Well done Itumeleng Mosala! Jacob Zuma has to stop defaming the judiciary and flouting the Zondo Commission.

  • Maretha Gous says:

    Excellent work; thank you Dr Mosala!

  • Gerhard Pretorius says:

    Give that man a Bells!

  • ANTHONY BAYLEY says:

    What a delight to read well written English

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