Foundation: Zuma would rather face jail time than Zondo Inquiry

Foundation: Zuma would rather face jail time than Zondo Inquiry

- The Jacob Zuma Foundation has responded to Thursday's events at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry

- The foundation has expressed its disappointment that Raymond Zondo 'missed the opportunity offered to him' by Zuma

- The foundation finds Zondo's 'failure' to realise that he could no longer be the head of the inquiry even more disappointing according to the statement

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The Jacob Zuma Foundation has responded to the events that unfolded at the State Capture Inquiry on Thursday morning in a statement.

The statement highlighted the foundation's disappointment at Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo's conduct, saying that he had 'missed the opportunity offered to him by President Zuma's counsel during oral submissions'.

The statement continues to suggest that the Inquiry chair's behaviour had been disturbing, commenting further that:

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"Equally disturbing is the fact that the Chairperson failed to realize that as soon as his unusual statement was contradicted, he could not be the arbiter of his own dispute."
Foundation: Zuma would rather face jail time than Zondo Inquiry
Zuma would rather face jail time than the Zondo Inquiry according to the foundation. Image: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Source: Getty Images

The Foundation went as far as to commend Zuma for walking out of the Inquiry, slamming it as a 'comedy of errors':

"We stand by President Zuma and commend him for his firm stance of walking away from the Commission. It is indeed a comedy of errors, floundering from one error to the next."

The foundation claims that Zuma has indicated he would rather face jail time than to continue his testimony:

"President Zuma assures us that he would rather face jail than allow himself to be bullied by an irregular, manipulated and unlawful process."

Earlier, Briefly.co.za reported that Zondo had opted to dismiss the ex-president's application for his recusal on the basis of a close personal relationship.

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After the judgement was handed down, Zuma had illegally left the inquiry despite being summonsed to appear for the duration of this week.

Zondo had described the transgression as a 'serious matter' and ended the inquiry's work for the week due to a lack of witnesses.

Zuma's legal team had signalled that they not only would be taking the matter further but would also be lodging a complaint against Zuma himself.

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Source: Briefly News

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