Looking back: The biggest news of 2023 from A-Z

A — The grim reality of hitmen for hire played out at Durban’s Florida Road in February when CCTV footage captured the moment two gunmen walked up to megastar Kiernan AKA Forbes and fired several rounds at him and his friend, celebrity chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane as they were leaving the Wish on Florida venue on February 10.

The murders on the popular entertainment strip made international headlines, highlighting the country’s problem with gun control, or lack thereof.

In March, four men were arrested at a Cape Town shopping centre in connection with the shooting and brought to Durban. Three days later, however, charges against three of the four were dropped, and the fourth was charged with carjacking.

In September, police minister Bheki Cele claimed police investigators were closing in on the killers as they had found the firearm used and the cars that transported the killers, and the people involved had been identified. “They are chasing these people and are not far from dealing the final blow to this case,” said Cele.

By December, no arrests had been made. Between January to September, police statistics revealed 19,442 people were killed in the country. The Institute for Security Studies says murders have been increasing consistently in South Africa over the past decade, reaching a high of 45 deaths per 100,000 people in 2023. On average, 75 people were killed every day over the last year.

B — One of the country’s most influential and controversial political figures, IFP founder Mangosuthu Buthelezi took his final breath on September 9, 13 days after he celebrated his 95th birthday in a private ward at Durban’s St Augustine’s Hospital.

The death of the prince who served as the traditional minister to the Zulu royal family reignited debate about his politics, with many casting him as a bloodthirsty warlord responsible for the deaths of thousands during violent conflict in KwaZulu-Natal during the 1980s and 1990s, while others praised him as a visionary leader who helped foster democracy and the new South Africa.

In December, Prince Zuzifa Buthelezi, the eldest son of the IFP founder, was identified to succeed his father as the leader of the clan at the KwaPhinganene Royal Palace, Ulundi. Buthelezi snr was a supporter of current King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, who is the central figure in an ongoing legal battle brought by his brother, Prince Simakade, who wants to dethrone him.

In a plot twist, the Pretoria high court has set aside President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to acknowledge Misuzulu as the Isilo of the Zulu nation, throwing the royal household into further turmoil, which will play out in 2024.

C — Dozens of people from Kanana, Suurman, Majaneng and Greenfield in Hammanskraal packed Jubilee District Hospital in May this year complaining of diarrhoea, stomach cramps and vomiting — symptoms of the waterborne disease, cholera.

Health authorities reported that the first three cases of the outbreak were imported after the patients had travelled to Malawi in February. In June, the health department said 43 people from Gauteng, Free State and Limpopo had died as a result of the disease — with 20 of those deaths linked to a failed Rooiwal wastewater treatment project in Hammanskraal.

In September, the Special Investigating Unit was authorised to investigate allegations of maladministration and corruption in the affairs of the Tshwane metro relating to the R292m tender awarded in 2019 to ANC benefactor Edwin Sodi’s two companies, NJR Projects and Blackhead Consulting, and their joint venture partner, CMS Water Engineering.

In a report, public protector Kholeka Gcaleka, who investigated allegations of undue delays and failure by the city to supply Hammanskraal residents with water suitable for human consumption, gave the Tshwane metro 60 days to implement remedial actions.

D — Deputy president David DD Mabuza sent the rand skittering when it was announced on March 1 that he had resigned as deputy president in a week that saw a cabinet reshuffle and appointment of a new electricity minister.

Nicknamed “The Cat”, ostensibly for his stealth, but could for nine (political) lives, Mabuza survived a five-year term amid controversy and scandal, eventually losing popularity at the ANC December conference and having to make way for his replacement, Paul Mashatile, but not before forcing Ramaphosa’s hand with his public resignation.

A month later, DA leader John Steenhuisen told parliament Mabuza was the senior cabinet member — referenced by former Eskom boss Andre de Ruyter during a television interview — who was allegedly involved in corruption and other crimes at Eskom.

Steenhuisen said the ANC was protecting Mabuza by rejecting the establishment of an ad hoc committee to investigate corruption and unabated operations of criminal networks at the power utility. But Mabuza hit back, saying he had pleaded with Steenhuisen to report him to the police if he had such evidence and this amounted to naught.

In April, the Mpumalanga High Court ordered Pompie Letwaba, a former ANC member and political activist in Mpumalanga, to publicly apologise to Mabuza for accusing him of masterminding political murders in the province in a defamation case against him.

E — Arguably the most despised parastatal in the country, Eskom continued to be the thief of light, with South Africans experiencing 6,947 hours of load-shedding — or 289 days — in 2023 (according to EskomSePush and The Outlier), causing disruptions at hospitals, schools and universities as well as job losses and even loss of life.

The electricity utility was cut at the knees after an explosive television interview by De Ruyter. He claimed theft and graft were to blame for Eskom’s R1bn loss per month. It was the perfect storm ahead of the May release of his book, Truth to Power, in which he highlighted details of pillaging, looting and political interference during his three-year stint at the energy provider.

The lights continued to flicker between improved generation capacity and unplanned outages despite assurances from the president’s new electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, appointed in March as Mr Fixit. It turns out the electricity minister is still powerless to resolve the energy crisis because his generation powers must be sourced from the ministries of mineral resources & energy and of public enterprises.

In December, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan announced the appointment of Dan Marokane as Eskom's new head to turn things around.

Whether Marokane — who knows the ins and outs of Eskom, having previously held the position of chief commercial officer and group executive between 2010 and 2015 — is the right man for the job will be revealed in 2024.

F — Climate change is said to be the culprit that wreaked havoc in the Western Cape as three days of heavy rainfall in June resulted in extensive flooding.

The extreme weather and floods forced the evacuation of about 2,000 people and left two dead. A week later, the province was hit by a second cold front, which left a trail of destruction caused by torrential rain and fierce winds, particularly around the Cape winelands. At least 1,000 people were displaced in Rawsonville in the Breede River Valley.

A third cut-off low in September caused extensive damage, particularly in the Overberg region, claiming 11 lives and leaving more than 21,011 displaced. Losses for the Western Cape’s agricultural sector were estimated to be between R750m and R1bn, with farmers begging for financial assistance.

While weather scientists say it will take much more data to positively link climate change with the destructive weather, the Western Cape government says the variable weather patterns leaves them vulnerable as it did in KwaZulu-Natal in April 2022.

It was precisely the theme at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, which addressed the issue of hammering out the details of a finance facility to help vulnerable communities deal with the loss and damage caused by extreme weather events. 

G — In July, the residents of Angelo, who live in abject poverty in shacks around an illegal mining operation in Boksburg, were hit with a deadly foul smell — a toxic gas leak that killed at least 17 people, including five women and three children.

They died from inhaling nitrate oxide leaking from a gas cylinder used by zama zamas operating from one of the shacks.

The tragedy came after another mass death, of at least 31 suspected illegal miners in a ventilation shaft at Virginia mine in Welkom, Free State. The accident occurred on May 18, but it emerged only in June when Lesotho informed South Africa. Both tragedies have highlighted the dire consequences of the illegal operations of zama zamas.

The Gauteng legislature’s committee on community safety has urged private security and mining companies to form specialised units to fight illegal mining threatening the gold industry.

In another July gas explosion, Johannesburg's Lilian Ngoyi Street cracked open and taxis flew into the air like a scene from a dystopian movie after an apparent underground blast. Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda announced a team of engineers, gas specialists, technologists and academics are tasked with the rigorous investigation into the possible causes of the methane gas explosion which left one person dead under an overturned car and 48 others injured. The cost for repairs was estimated to be R180m.

H — On October 7, Israeli forces unleashed a devastating aerial and ground blitz against Hamas in Gaza after a cross-border attack by the Islamist group.

The fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, the latest in seven decades of war and conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, has raged on since then with at least 16,015 Palestinians killed according to Gaza health ministry figures, and about 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies.

The war has pitted outside powers against each other, including the US, which is Israel’s strongest military, financial and diplomatic backer, while Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Canada and Sudan have expressed support for Palestine. In November, South Africa joined Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for war crimes.

Around the same time, parliament adopted an EFF-sponsored motion to “close” the Israeli embassy and cut diplomatic relations with Israel by 248 votes in favour against 91 pending a ceasefire and UN-led negotiated settlement between Israel and Palestine. The two declared a multi-day truce and hostage exchange where Hamas released 13 Israeli hostages, including Channah Peri, 79 a retired shopkeeper who emigrated to Israel from South Africa in the 1960s, as well as former South African kindergarten teacher Aviva Siegel, 64.

Global humanitarian nonprofit Gift of the Givers were left in mourning after the head of its Gaza office, Ahmed Abbasi, and his brother were killed while returning from morning prayer. The organisation has engaged a legal team to add charges of war crimes against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At home, U19 cricket captain David Teeger was cleared by a Cricket South Africa investigation after comments he made in support of the Israel Defense Forces on receiving the “Rising Star Award” as the Jewish Achiever Awards were made public.

“I’ve been awarded this award, and yes, I am now the rising star, but the true rising stars are the young soldiers in Israel,” said Teeger. His comments angered pro-Palestinian organisations in South Africa and they demanded he be removed from the squad and stripped of the captaincy. 

I — Implats CEO Nico Muller described November 27, the day an ascending mine elevator plummeted 200m down the number 11 shaft, killing 11 miners immediately and injuring 75, as the “darkest day in the history of Implats”.

Two others died later in hospital, bringing the final death tally to 13. But for Zaphalala Mzo, a mineworker who miraculously survived the ordeal, it is a nightmare.

The machine operator described how they waited for the lift — which had got stuck earlier — to hoist them to the surface and how they wept when it went into free-fall and finally hit the bottom of the shaft, bumping several times. The accident was one of the deadliest in South Africa in more than two decades.

J — One of the biggest stories of the year must be the audacious prison break and then back to jail story of convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester and his girlfriend, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana.

In March, GroundUp published pictures of the two apparently at the Sandton Woolworths taken in June 2022, a month after he had allegedly died in his Mangaung prison cell.

It then emerged that the two had hatched a Bonnie and Clydesque plan which involved, among others, G4S employees at the prison to stage a fire and find a replacement “body” for Bester, who would then escape with the aid of prison officials.

This allowed Bester and Magudumana to continue living the high life, scamming millions off property agents and businesspeople to fund their lifestyle through a media and construction company, until media scrutiny forced correctional services and police to act. This led to the couple fleeing their million-rand Hyde Park mansion and being on the run for two weeks, until they were finally nabbed in Arusha, Tanzania, during the Easter weekend in April.

The couple were flown back to South Africa to face the law, and a former prison warden and Magudumana’s father were among several people arrested for colluding with the pair.

Initially, they appeared separately, with Bester claiming inhumane treatment at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility in Pretoria and complaining about missing luxury items worth millions including Burberry cuff holders, Tom Ford sunglasses, a Louis Vuitton laptop bag, an assortment of luxury watches worth R10m, and foreign currency.

In August, the two shared a tender reunion in court but things changed with Magudumana changing her tune, claiming Bester had forced her to leave the country against her will.

Her bid for bail was denied, but the Supreme Court of Appeal will hear her appeal against the judgment that found that South African courts retain criminal jurisdiction over her. If she succeeds in her appeal, she could escape a criminal trial in South Africa.

K — South Africa was left in shock when a wave struck submarine SAS Manthatisi on the surface, washing seven sailors off the deck. South Africa’s first woman submarine commander Lt-Commander Gillian Hector, master warrant officer William Masela Mathipa (coxswain) and warrant officer class 1 Mmokwapa Lucas Mojela (coxswain under training), drowned.

The submarine was, at the time, off the coast of Kommetjie, near Cape Town, while a vertical transfer exercise was being carried out on September 20. It was heading to Cape Town's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront for a navy festival event. The crew was conducting a vertical transfer exercise with a South African Air Force Lynx helicopter.

The navy instituted a board of inquiry into how the tragedy happened, which was due to complete its investigation on November 10. This was extended, but the new date has not been made public.

L — In May, US ambassador to South Africa Reuben E Brigety II caused a mini Cold War when he told media in Pretoria that Washington had established that the Lady R, the Russian-registered cargo ship which docked in Simon’s Town in December last year, was loaded with weapons while docked at the naval base.

He accused South Africa of deviating from its non-aligned position in the Russian war on Ukraine, straining diplomatic relations between South Africa and the US.

In late May, a three-person panel chaired by retired Gauteng deputy judge president Phineas Mojapelo was appointed to look into the claims.

In August, the panel found there was no evidence to substantiate Brigety’s claims and that equipment offloaded for the South African National Defence Force had been waiting for delivery since 2018, but was delayed by Covid and the war.

M — “Speaker of the National Assembly ...”  was all President Cyril Ramaphosa managed to say before EFF leader Julius Malema disrupted his February state of the nation address (Sona) in the Cape Town City Hall.

Then chaos erupted. After being ordered to vacate, Malema and six other EFF members attempted to storm the stage where Ramaphosa was speaking before getting into a tussle with security services who escorted the red berets out of the venue.

Their actions yielded costly consequences because, in November, parliament-appointed advocate Anton Katz recommended to a powers and privileges committee hearing that Malema and co be banned from next year’s Sona, have their salaries docked for a month and be made to apologise to the president, the speaker of parliament and to the country for their misconduct.

In true Malema style, he walked out of proceedings, saying he would not be persecuted by a “white man”. The EFF launched a court challenge to fight the sanction, but later withdrew the matter saying it would deal with it next year.

N — The proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) bill, which aims to provide universal health coverage, could be a salve to our ailing public healthcare system.

The disparity in the access to healthcare between the haves and the have-nots is gargantuan, estimated to be a 30:70 split. The bill is one step closer to being a reality after the National Council of Provinces passed it earlier this month.

But it seems the government’s rush to pass the bill in its current form — ahead of election year — is problematic, with critics saying having a government-run fund opens it up to widespread corruption as has been seen in state-owned businesses such as Eskom, Transnet and SAA.

There is also criticism from opposition parties and private healthcare sector players, who say the lack of clarity regarding the future role of medical schemes and scant details on exactly how funding for the bill will be financed is a concern. The bill will now be submitted to the presidency, which is expected to sign it into law next year.

O — The white colony of Orania is on a fundraising mission to collect R2.6m in the Northern Cape in preparation to honour Boer hero Paul Kruger on the 200th anniversary of his birth in 2025 by building a replica of the Kruger statue that now stands in Church Square, Pretoria.

P — The 2020 Phala Phala robbery of millions of dollars at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s private game farm near Bela-Bela, Limpopo, came home to roost this year.

Having survived an impeachment threat, the president was declared innocent of wrongdoing in a provisional report by then-acting public protector Kholeka Gcaleka. Instead, she criticised presidential protection services head Wally Rhoode for an off-the-books investigation into the theft.

But the African Transformation Movement was not convinced and filed a legal challenge to the report, accusing her of failing to probe the matter with an “open and inquiring mind”.

Then in August, the South African Reserve Bank cleared Ramaphosa of exchange control breaches in the Phala Phala scandal, to the ire of the DA, which in November turned to the courts to set aside their decision.

Also in November, domestic worker Froliana Joseph, her brother Ndilishano David Joseph, and Imanuwela David were arrested. They are standing trial in the Bela Bela magistrate's court on charges of conspiracy of housebreaking, conspiracy of theft, theft, and housebreaking with intent to steal. David faces an additional charge of money laundering.

Q — Queues of trucks almost 10km long waiting to enter the port of Richards Bay and ships berthed as far as Umhlanga — having to wait for on average of 457 hours, or 19 days to berth at the Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 — displaced load-shedding as the main stumbling block to reviving South Africa’s struggling economy.

There have been many red flags raised by shipping and logistics companies over Transnet’s inefficiencies. But it was only when shipping giant Maersk, frustrated with delays at Cape Town harbour, confirmed it will now bypass the Mother City and offload South Africa-bound container cargo in Mauritius, that the government was forced to come down hard on the parastatal’s congestion.

Transnet had already been bleeding, and when the company reported a R5.7bn loss in September, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan ordered the board to review all its operations, including management, to establish if the right people with the right skills were in charge.

A month later, group CEO Portia Derby and CFO Nonkululeko Dlamini resigned, followed by Transnet Freight Rail CEO Sizakele Mzimela a week later.

The parastatal’s begging bowl to finance minister Enoch Godongwana and the National Treasury was finally filled at the beginning of December, with a R47bn credit guarantee facility to help ease the entity's financial challenges with strict terms and conditions. 

R — From whichever kant you look at it, the final blow of Rugby World Cup referee Wayne Barnes’ whistle at Stade de France on October 15, sealing South Africa’s win over New Zealand by a solitary point, was the biggest victory not only for sport, but the country.

The moment captain Siya Kolisi and the rest of the Bokke lifted the Webb Ellis Cup — making South Africa the only nation to lift it for a fourth time — was a win we needed to counter the naysayers and a moment of national unity and pride.

The country — despite our depressed economic outlook as well as power and water shortages — was united in our support for the men in green and gold (and yes even the blue and white) from our first victory against Scotland on September 10 to the nail-biting single-point wins against France, England and eventually the All Blacks. And who could forget the hullabaloo when English flanker Tom Curry claimed our hooker Bongi Mbonambi racially abused him during the game.

Thankfully World Rugby found “insufficient evidence” to back up the claim. The Boks came home to rousing national parades in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and then finally East London. Sadly, a 20-year-old student had to have her leg amputated after she was allegedly struck by a police nyala after the last parade.

S — The South African National Defence Force (SANDF)’s spending of R126.9m on chartering commercial companies to transport critical fighting equipment and munitions to and from a UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in August exposed deficiencies in the military.

Experts said the appointment of commercial companies to transport military equipment was an indictment of the military.

Shame came in October when the UN detained eight soldiers for sexual abuse and exploitation in the DRC. In a report, it said UN military police apprehended the peacekeepers who set up bars and brothels — named Soweto, Bloemfontein and Cape Town — outside the Beni base.

The SANDF recalled the men, who will have to answer to the allegations in a tribunal while a fact-finding mission had been deployed to the DRC. Less than two months later, NGO Open Secrets produced a report referencing a “torture squad” implicating at least four units of the SANDF in crimes dating to 2019.

It said these are the elite special forces brigade, the military police, defence intelligence and defence legal services. The litany of crimes the NGO claimed they were involved in include the disappearance of alleged Islamic State financier Abdella Abadiga and his bodyguard a year ago from the Mall of Africa; being present at the docking of Lady R in December last year; and the murder of Hawks investigator Lt-Col Frans Mathipa in August.

The SANDF said they viewed the allegations seriously as the “fabrications” had the potential to damage the image and reputation of the force.

T — ANC MP and chair of the National Assembly’s police portfolio committee Tina Joemat-Pettersson died in June. Her sons, Terrence and Austin Pettersson, said their mother died at home and the cause of death was unknown.

Joemat-Pettersson also served in the section 194 committee conducting an inquiry into suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office. At the time of her death, Joemat-Pettersson faced extortion allegations from David Skosana, Mkhwebane’s husband.

Skosana claimed that at a meeting at OR Tambo International Airport, Joemat-Pettersson asked him for a bribe to make the inquiry “go away”. He laid a charge of extortion at the police station at the airport. Reports had alleged that Joemat-Pettersson facilitated discussions with Skosana on behalf of the committee's chair, Qubudile Dyantyi, and ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina.

Both Dyantyi and Majodina reportedly denied the allegations and Joemat-Pettersson said she would welcome a police investigation. Before her death, the National Assembly had announced that the allegations would be investigated.

U — In the early hours of August 31, 77 people died when a fire ravaged an inner city building at 80 Albert Street in Marshalltown, Johannesburg. The hijacked Usindiso shelter for women and children caught fire had become home to more than a 100 people, many of whom were foreign nationals.

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi established a commission of inquiry chaired by retired judge Sisi Khampepe, assisted by advocate Thulani Makhubela and Vuyelwa Mathilda Mabena in October to investigate the cause of the fire and reasons why hijacked buildings proliferate in Johannesburg.

The inquiry was temporarily halted after a recusal request from Socio-Economic Rights Institute, which said it was concerned Makhubela might harbour xenophobic sentiments. In some tweets, he is said to have sided with the anti-foreign Operation Dudula on allegations that foreigners are eroding the law and are a problem. He was recused from the inquiry on December 20.

The inquiry has uncovered the dire living conditions at the building, including blocked-off entrances and dozens of illegal electricity connections. Survivors of the fire, who were temporarily housed in shelters, were moved to newly erected shacks in Denver, south of Johannesburg.

V — EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu’s pocketing of R180,000 made in three payments in 2017 by Sgameka Projects — run by his brother Brian Shivambu and linked to the VBS Mutual Bank scandal — landed him in hot water this year.

The payments should have been disclosed in terms of parliament’s code of conduct but were not, and the joint ethics committee found Shivambu guilty of contravening the code of conduct and sanctioned him with the loss of nine days’ salary. But the committee said it was “unable to make a finding” on a 2019 VBS Mutual Bank-related complaint against EFF leader Julius Malema. 

W — On May 1, Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi unveiled 4,000 crime prevention wardens in green overalls as part of his controversial job creation plan to strengthen existing law enforcement officials in the fight against crime at the ward level.

Lesufi’s ambitious plan attracted 21,000 applications, with 10,650 applicants being shortlisted for the next stage and 6,000 making it to the training stage. Only 4,000 graduated. He said they will use e-policing solutions such as drones and helicopters amid concern that they had not been adequately trained to deal with the province’s high prevalence of violent crime.

Opposition parties said the move was aimed at generating votes in next year’s elections. The amaPanyazas have not been without controversy: Since taking possession of 199 new BMWs in May they have been involved in 22 crashes. Three cars have been written off, 11 vehicles are undergoing repairs, and eight are being assessed for damage. 

X — Social media platform Twitter transformed to X in October thanks to South African-born tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX told employees recently that being the “digital town square” isn’t enough: X aims to become “a single application that encompasses everything”, competing with YouTube, LinkedIn, FaceTime, dating apps and the entire banking industry.

But the eccentricity of the world’s most wealthy man — said to have amassed $250bn — has angered advertisers such as Disney, IBM and Apple. They have paused ad spend on the social media platform after his recent antisemitic tweet, for which he later apologised.

Musk was named by former Sunday Times celebrity journalist Jani Allan, who succumbed to cancer in July, as one of her most famous pupils and wanted him to help change people’s views of cancer therapy. “I want to tell him, ‘Elon, I am dying and I would love for you to please do something for us cancer patients. Use your clout and intelligence to tell people about the dangers of big pharma, that we don’t all have to buy into the cruel, medieval treatments that mutilate and burn you and leave you dead anyway.’”

Y — A 39-year-old woman from Gqeberha, Kirsten Neuschäfer, not only fulfilled her sailing ambition but became the first woman to win the Golden Globe Race, a solo unassisted non-stop around-the-world yacht race, on Freedom Day.

The significance of the day she conquered the Everest of sailing only dawned on her after almost eight months alone at sea on her sailboat, Minnehaha.

The race is set up specifically to make things difficult — by recreating sailing conditions of half a century ago. The only female entrant also managed to pull off a successful rescue operation after Finnish sailing legend Tapio Lehtinen's boat sank in the southern Indian Ocean.

Contestants cannot use modern equipment such as satellite navigation and must use dated yacht designs. They carry a backup satellite tracker in case of emergency, but forfeit any chance of winning the race should they use it. They are also disqualified from overall line honours should they need to stop over anywhere for repairs.

Neuschäfer is no stranger to adventure. She gained valuable sailing experience working with expedition yachts in Antarctica, cycled solo from Europe to South Africa, and once trained huskies in Finland.

Z — The integrity of the judiciary once again came under the spotlight this year with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo firmly at the centre of the controversy, having to defend claims of judicial corruption referenced in a seemingly fake intelligence report submitted by Bantu Holomisa to the joint standing committee of intelligence in October.

A month later, Zondo also came under fire from the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution who said he crossed the boundaries of acceptable speech by judges and should be reproached over his comments that former president Jacob Zuma must continue to face the full might of the law in his corruption trial during a TV interview.

Zondo reiterated to a recent gathering of judges and magistrates at a judges’ conference in December, which will be looking at strengthening judicial independence and efficiency, that accusations of the judiciary being “captured” were rejected with the contempt they deserve.