Malema calls for Zondo to be held accountable
EFF leader Julius Malema has added his voice to calls for Chief Justice Raymond Zondo to be held to account for suggesting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s election saved the country.
In part four of the State Capture report released two weeks ago, Zondo said National Treasury would have suffered irreparable damage had it not been for the ANC conference in 2017 that elected Ramaphosa to take over from former President Jacob Zuma.
TimesLIVE reports that Malema yesterday lambasted the remarks, saying they were an endorsement of Ramaphosa’s second term when the party holds its elective conference in December.
‘Zondo is a factionalist who supports Ramaphosa’s second term... He’s effectively saying if you don’t elect Ramaphosa this December, we are going to be in trouble,’ said Malema.
Malema said Zondo had entered the political terrain and should be taken to task, as was the case with his predecessor Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
His remarks come days after ANC heavyweight Tony Yengeni also accused Zondo of endorsing Ramaphosa’s re-election.
Yengeni has taken up the matter with the JSC, arguing that Zondo breached the code of judicial conduct.
‘Zondo thinks that judges are untouchable and that’s why he has given himself the responsibility to enter the political terrain,' Malema is quoted as saying in a report in The Star.
'Judges should have nothing to do about the outcome of political conferences of political parties. They must know the limit, and Zondo does not have any limits. For some reason I personally think that Zondo wished to be a TV presenter where he is always on TV.’
Malema said that judges were respected for their judgments and not for their political views.
‘There is nothing interesting about the Zondo report because Justice Zondo used the report to further the interests of a certain faction against another faction and by so doing delegitimise the whole process. We have no appetite to entertain the report. Zondo is neither here nor there. He used the commission for personal reward,’ Malema added.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
