Cape Town – The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has lashed out at Chief Justice Raymond Zondo over his comments that the party made it possible for the Gupta family to capture the state.
According to reports, Zondo, who chaired the commission of inquiry into state capture, said this while delivering the OR Tambo memorial lecture at the University of Fort Hare on Friday.
He said that Tambo would turn in his grave for some of the things done by ‘his fellow comrades’, The Witness reported.
Zondo said the failure of the ANC national executive committee to recall former president Jacob Zuma earlier than it did, had cost South Africa billions of rand which were taken out of the country.
His utterances, however, struck a nerve with the ANC, with provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo saying that Zondo had disregarded the separation of powers principle between the executive, judicial and legislative branches of the state, according to IOL.
“It is becoming very clear that Justice Zondo views himself as above everybody else in our country.
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“He is a referee, a player, a goalkeeper and an assistant referee. All in one, a Jack of all trades.
“He has now descended to nothing else but a pure political charlatan that must be exposed for his true intentions. Maybe the time has come for us as the nation to ask if South Africa is not facing a judicial capture because that would be the worst kind of state capture in our democracy,” the report quoted Mtolo as saying.
He said that Zondo could no longer be seen as impartial in adjudicating matters involving the party, Times Live reported.
“It was not only strange but reckless of the chief justice to use OR Tambo, who was a politician and a stalwart of the ANC, to attack the very same ANC, its leaders and its government,” said Mtolo.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
