A constitutional law expert says that Tony Yengeni’s complaint against Chief Justice Raymond Zondo to the JSC is groundless and has little prospects of success.

Yengeni lodged the complaint with the JSC last week, two weeks after the release of the fourth instalment of the State Capture Commission’s report which focused on Eskom and the other SOEs.

As previously reported, he took offence at Zondo’s remarks in the report that read: ‘Had it not been for the fact that at the end of 2017 the ANC would have an elective conference where Mr (Cyril) Ramaphosa, who was already Deputy President of the ANC and the country, would stand as a candidate to take over from Mr (Jacob) Zuma, more damage could have been done to the National Treasury under Mr (Malusi) Gigaba.’

The Sunday Tribune reports that Yengeni said the remarks amounted to political meddling and that Justice Zondo’s conclusion was troubling in many respects.

Professor Koos Malan, from the University of Pretoria’s Department of Public Law, said that even though Zondo's assertions regarding Zuma and Gigaba may be challenged, there were sound factual grounds for the commission having made the statement.

‘The statement, moreover, is of particular relevance to the subject matter of the commission’s inquiry and is premised on evidence presented before the commission. The nature of the inquiry and the content of the evidence necessitated statements of the kind that Yengeni complained about. Legally, Yengeni’s complaint is patently groundless and it has no success prospects,’ Malan said.

Full Sunday Tribune report