President Cyril Ramaphosa is one of the main witnesses scheduled to appear at the Zondo commission before it wraps up the hearing of oral evidence in March.
Ramaphosa was deputy president for the second term of former president Jacob Zuma’s nine-year tenure, a period when state capture activities and corruption in the public sector were rife.
During that time, Ramaphosa was head of government business and was tasked, among other things, with chairing the state-owned entities (SOEs) war room that was supposed to fix the problems at Eskom, SAA and the Post Office.
He was also Zuma’s deputy when the Guptas went to Luthuli House to complain to ANC bosses about SA’s major banks closing their accounts.
Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo said recently it was crucial for Ramaphosa to testify about what he knew about state capture and corruption in the public sector between 2012 and 2018 as deputy president of the country and of the ANC.
“I asked him [Ramaphosa] already in 2018, I had a meeting with him and I said the work of the commission would not be complete without him, or the government or the executive, coming to the commission to give evidence,” Zondo told the media.
“That relates to the fact that he was part of the executive during a lot of time or some of the years when some of the things that the commission is looking into are alleged to have happened.
“He was deputy president of the country and during other years he was not the deputy president of the country but was deputy president of the ANC, the ruling party.”
But the judge’s biggest headache this year is the real possibility that Zuma himself might still not have testified by the time the commission has to wrap up hearings.
He evaded doing so for the whole of 2020, and the three months remaining to Zondo might not give him enough time to corner the slippery former president.
Zuma is billed to appear at the commission from January 18 to 22, but the validity of the summons depends on the Constitutional Court backing it. The commission’s application for an order compelling Zuma to appear was heard on Monday.
The former president is also appealing to the high court against Zondo’s refusal to recuse himself as chair of the commission.
Should the commission fail to obtain Zuma’s version of events, the credibility and legitimacy of Zondo’s final report will inevitably come under attack from those who align themselves with the former president.
Even if the Constitutional Court orders Zuma to appear at the commission, there is no guarantee he will obey. And even if he does, there is a likelihood — as hinted at by his legal counsel — that he will invoke what he sees as his right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination.
This strategy was employed by Zuma’s close associate, former SAA chair Dudu Myeni.
On top of its Zuma conundrum, the commission’s impressive work on SOEs will be incomplete without evidence from the people who served as accounting authorities during the periods in question.
Only the former CEO of Eskom and Transnet, Brian Molefe, can provide the most important missing pieces of the state capture puzzle.
Alongside Molefe during his stints at the helm of the two parastatals was CFO Anoj Singh, whose testimony is equally important.
Also yet to appear before Zondo is the minister of mineral resources & energy, Gwede Mantashe, who was secretary-general of the ANC during the height of state capture. He is one of the ANC politicians accused of receiving favours from Bosasa.
Deputy minister of correctional services Thabang Makwetla, another alleged Bosasa beneficiary, has expressed his willingness to appear before the commission.
Another witness who has threatened to rock the boat when he makes his appearance is the former CEO of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, Lucky Montana.
Montana has accused the deputy chief justice of “lacking a sense of fairness and commitment to justice” after testimony that implicated him in wrongdoing.
The commission has heard how Montana ruled with an iron fist and allegedly retaliated against staff who questioned the legality of contracts.
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