Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - Political analyst Sipho Seepe has accused Chief Justice Raymond Zondo of overplaying his hand with what he termed the “nonsensical” recommendations he made to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Seepe was reacting to Justice Zondo’s release of the final instalments of the state capture commission reports.
Justice Zondo, in his ultimate round of recommendations, wrote: “It is recommended that a permanent commission be established, the main function of which will be to investigate (and) publicly expose acts of state capture and corruption in the way that this commission did over the past four years, making findings and recommendations to the president. Such a commission could be called the Anti-State Capture and Corruption Commission.”
He said Parliament had previously failed to hold then president Jacob Zuma accountable.
“Where the Anti-State Capture and Corruption Commission is of the view that Parliament has failed or is failing to perform its oversight function effectively and has not held the executive to account, it must step in, investigate the matter itself properly and call upon anyone to appear before it,” he said.
Seepe labelled Justice Zondo’s recommendations as “nonsense”.
“It is total nonsense. Justice Zondo has positioned himself as the big boss of such a commission he is recommending. He states that the president must consult the chief justice – meaning Justice Zondo – to provide him with a retired or active judge who will be the chairperson of this overarching commission.
“It is clear that Justice Zondo is trying to be above the Constitution of this country when he has not been elected but appointed by an elected politician. He now wants to take away the constitutional powers enjoyed by this elected president and any other president that comes after him,” Seepe said.
Seepe added that Justice Zondo was not the best man to decide on behalf of the voters.
“Justice Zondo is not dressed in glory. He was rejected by the Judicial Service Commission after it realised that this man was not suitable to become chief justice. He was appointed and now he has found a back door through which to control everything.
“Our democracy will not be dictated by one individual. Justice Zondo is not alpha and omega. His recommendation will be heavily rejected because he is trying to take away the will of the people. Commissions lie in the hands of the elected president and there’s no way that any political party will agree to this nonsense.”
Pretoria News