Former President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma has rejected a request by the country’s top court to suggest what punishment he should face if found guilty of contempt of court describing it as ‘a sham’.
The Ex-President faces possible sanctions for failing to appear in February before the Zondo Commission, a judicial inquiry into corruption during his presidency.
The Chief Justice of the country, Mogoeng Mogoeng had given Mr. Zuma until Wednesday to file an affidavit, no longer than 15 pages, to the Constitutional Court.
However, in a rather surprising move, the former president wrote in a 21-page letter to the chief justice that he had come to the conclusion that there was an ‘inexplicable judicial antipathy‘ towards him.
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Mr. Zuma, who resigned as president under pressure in 2018 facing numerous allegations of corruption, has repeatedly cast himself as a victim of a conspiracy presumably to attract sympathy.
The courts had joined the political narrative in which he was ‘routinely a subject of political ridicule and commentary’, the 79-year-old anti-apartheid veteran said.
The Zondo Commission was controlled by his ‘political foes‘, he added.
The former president said he had a constitutional right ‘to be presumed innocent, to remain silent and not to testify in proceedings’.
‘I do not accept that I committed contempt of court when I decided not to participate in the commission proceedings in circumstances where my rights would be violated.’ he added.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK