Breaking: Zuma secures ‘two days off’ as State Capture Inquiry postponed

Jacob Zuma’s lawyers have seen their bid to dislodge Raymond Zondo as the leader of the State Capture Inquiry head into extra time. Musi Sikhakhane, who fronted Msholozi’s application for recusal against the DCJ on Monday, was told that there would be an adjournment to proceedings today – but the decision seems to have played in uBaba’s hands.

The Zondo Commission will now only resume at 10:00 on Thursday 19 November

Jacob Zuma secures another delay at the State Capture Inquiry

An intense day of deliberations took place on Monday, as the matter of Zondo’s recusal dominated proceedings. Jacob Zuma never came close to facing questions, and instead, had a front row seat to some pure political theatre.

Sikhakhane and Zondo actually remained quite jovial towards each other, despite the heavy subject matter. However, Zuma’s counsel did clash with the State Capture Inquiry’s advocate, Paul Pretorius. Sikhakhane claimed his adversary was ‘patronising’ him, after the Commission’s representative poked holes in the recusal application.

Raymond Zondo ‘considering his own recusal’

On Tuesday, we got off to a delayed start when Raymond Zondo summoned both legal teams to his chambers. The meeting was used to establish when the DCJ would deliver his verdict on the recusal.

Both legal teams have joined Commission chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in his chambers, he is expected to brief then on whether he will be delivering his ruling or not before the commencement of the proceedings. #ZumaZondo

— Juniour Khumalo (@JKwritingz) November 17, 2020

Why has the State Capture Inquiry been postponed?

When Zondo emerged from the meeting, he made a brief statement, confirming that the State Capture Inquiry would be delayed as he needed more time to construct a verdict on his recusal. A 24-hour adjournment was initially placed on record:

“I indicated yesterday that I was hoping to give a ruling on my possible recusal this morning. But that will not happen today, I am still working on a final decision. There is a lot of documentation to go through carefully. I will be using today to work on that judgment. We will adjourn and return here on Wednesday at 10:00.”

Raymond Zondo

But Sikhakhane revealed that his client was required to attend a funeral on the Wednesday. Sure enough, Zondo agreed to extend the adjournment to Thursday, buying Jacob Zuma another two days off from the Commission. The former president is only scheduled to appear in front of the panel until Friday 20 November – and precious time has ticked away.

• We will have more updates on the State Capture Inquiry – including the testimony of Jacob Zuma – throughout the week.