The Commission of Inquiry into State Capture has announced through a statement that its chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, will hand down his ruling on Wednesday afternoon at 3pm.
Zondo will rule on whether or not he will recuse himself from hearing former President Jacob Zuma’s testimony.
On Tuesday, Zondo postponed his decision, saying he was still going through the documents required to make a ruling.
Below is a statement from the commission:
On Monday, lawyers for Zuma as well as the commission’s legal team made arguments for and against Zondo’s recusal.
Zondo is also expected to consider a statement that Zuma’s legal team will present to him that is in response to Zondo’s characterisation of his relationship with their client.
Impartial
Zuma’s lawyer Muzi Sikhakhane says the test regarding bias on the part of a judge must be that a reasonable person can believe that they will receive a fair trial.
Sikhakhane says he will demonstrate that Zondo’s conduct shows he is not impartial.
“As much as this environment is easy for you, for me and for Mr Pretorious it’s not easy for a client or for an ordinary citizen as an accused because it does not matter what we say about Mr. Zuma.”
“The narrative is that Mr Zuma sits as an accused and therefore that is the context in which you must look at his apprehension about this commission’s choice of witnesses, this commission’s comments during the testimony of those witnesses.”
State Capture Inquiry proceedings from November 16:
