Acting chief justice Raymond Zondo tried to pick his words carefully at the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) hearings, but it seemed too hard a task to accomplish under immense pressure for almost the whole day.
When asked about his meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, Zondo correctly said the commission would not have completed its work properly if Ramaphosa had not been called to testify. This is because Ramaphosa was not just in the executive at the height of state capture, but was former president Jacob Zuma’s deputy and chair of the ANC’s deployment committee, an entity about which he was quizzed.
But the real story is about another key witness who was not forced to take the stand and whose important testimony remains unheard — Arthur Fraser, former director-general of the State Security Agency (SSA).
Zondo gave us a long explanation that sought to blame Fraser for not trying hard enough to share his story. He tells us that Fraser came late to the commission and only did so after he was implicated. He also failed to produce the many SSA documents he said were necessary to tell his story in full.
Zondo then postulated: “What is the point of hearing the story if it’s incomplete? What will I do with it if it’s incomplete?”
But these aren’t just normal documents, they are spy reports and evidence showing the involvement of presidents, current and former, in dealings relevant to state capture. The point is that here lie very deep, dark state secrets, secrets that will stay buried because Zondo left it to Fraser to want to share.
All Fraser wanted to do is show that he tried a little bit to give his side of the story, but he was never going to move mountains to do so. There are clearly questions he wouldn’t want to face. And so it was up to Zondo to force him to appear, even if Fraser felt no real need to fully comply with the process.
Fraser, to state the obvious, is a spy— allegedly, a bloody crooked one. He stands accused of all manner of wrongdoing, including the R600m “principal agent network”. His training and inclination is to keep secrets. Zondo is chair of a commission whose mission ought to be to seek disclosure of these secrets. Leaving it to the secretive spy to want to share them voluntarily is shirking responsibility. It is poor leadership.
Others will say it wasn’t just an error — Fraser was deliberately not pursued because his information will show that state capture is not just a Zuma thing
So, in the same way Zondo told us the commission would not have completed its work properly if Ramaphosa had not been called, the work of this commission seems incomplete without access to the top-secret files Fraser referred to, and Fraser’s responses to questioning.
Zondo’s explanation at the JSC that Fraser only came forward in the third year of the commission, and never came back to Zondo to say if the SSA was still denying him access to the documents, must be rejected — not because it’s false but because it’s woefully inadequate. It was Zondo’s duty, in pursuing the truth on our behalf, to ensure that Fraser was given a platform; dragged to that platform, if necessary.
The following statement by Zondo may provide clues as to why Fraser was not subpoenaed: “Another complication with him [Fraser] was that he could implicate a lot of people who were not previously implicated, which could then mean we must give those people opportunities, and we were running out of time.”
LISTEN | I am not pro-Ramaphosa, I just made a lot of enemies, says Zondo
The commission ran out of time anyway. We were subjected to endless testimony from Lucky Montana and other ANC minions, yet Zondo had no time for a top spy who, in correspondence, told him that his information related to present and former presidents.
Julius Malema was correct to point out that Zizi Kodwa, who allegedly received some R1m, was dragged before the commission, yet the spy boss — on whose watch assets and cash worth a great deal more went missing — was not subpoenaed. Zondo wanted the spy boss to voluntarily testify. It’s ludicrous.
It leaves a bitter taste. We might simply say it was clumsy of Zondo. Others will say it wasn’t just an error — Fraser was deliberately not pursued because his information would show that state capture is not just a Zuma thing, it involved other presidents too. Why then narrow the search for information and evidence?
It is this sort of clumsiness by Zondo that, on the surface, may make him appear deferential to Ramaphosa — and in turn makes Ramaphosa vulnerable to attacks by rivals who will argue that the commission is pursuing factional interests. Fraser himself is no blameless state official, so failing to question him is even more curious.
Let me be clear: Zondo has done many great things for the country. His pursuit of Zuma, whom he bent over backwards for, was commendable. He is certainly courageous and possessed of a sharp and admirable legal mind. But his failure to pursue a man who was in charge of the spying structure for the duration of state capture is baffling, to say the least.
More so when our former chief spook hints at the existence of documents about questionable activities on the part of presidents. Who would not want to know? Why is Zondo not interested in these secrets to try to achieve the completeness about which he spoke when he had coffee with Ramaphosa, explaining to him why he must testify?
Leaving Fraser out creates the impression of a candidate for chief justice who is trying not to rattle the cage. Zondo will protest that he is not that type of judge. And he may be right. But the conclusion is inescapable that he did not do enough to help pursue the information that Fraser indicated he needed to paint a much fuller picture of state capture.
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