Medical treatment leaves Zuma unable to attend Zondo commission
Former president Jacob Zuma’s testimony at the commission of inquiry into state capture has once again been delayed.
The commission resumed its work on Tuesday.
It indicated earlier that it would be prepared to summons the former president to continue with his testimony, after he failed to appear last year due to health reasons.
But the commission’s chair, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, had to adjourn an application by the commission’s legal team to have Zuma answer questions before the commission.
The commission wanted the former president to appear between 27 and 31 January, but Zuma’s legal team indicated that the former leaves next week for medical treatment and won’t be available to testify this month.
Zuma’s legal team told the commission that he will be undergoing intense medical treatment overseas and won’t be available before March.
This left Zondo with little choice but to postpone the application to a later date.
“This application is to be adjourned to a date to be arranged. I have accepted, with some reluctance, the offer made by the former president that the leader of his medical team should see me and in confidence convey to me information that may assist in understanding the medical reasons relating to his failure to appear in the commission,” said Zondo.
President Zuma was meant to appear before scheduled proceedings in October and November 2019, but cited ill health and other court matters as a reason for his inability to appear before the commission.