Micheal Mbewe

As part the celebrations, a special gala dinner was also held as a special tribute to bid farewell to the recently retired Chief Justice of the constitutional court, Raymond Zondo. Among the topics discussed, Zondo spoke on the corruption allegations against the country's Minister of Justice Thembi Simelane.

“I can say that when you are a public figure, if there are serious allegations of wrongdoing, corruption, any crime, it is proper that you be asked to account. As you say, you are aware that the President (Cyril Ramaphosa) has asked her to account. I think that she will welcome the opportunity to explain to the President what the position is and I assume that if the President is satisfied with the explanation, the President will let her continue. But I assume that the President will share with nation, the explanation if she is to continue so that the nation can have an idea what the position is. So, I think that the President has done the right thing calling for an account from here,” said Zondo.

Zondo also commented on the incarceration in 2021 of former President Jacob Zuma, explaining that the decision had been taken by the Constitutional Court.

“It is true that his incarceration was initiated by me, I made the decision that the Commission (the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State) believe that for his conduct, the Constitution court believes that he was guilty of contempt of court and should go to jail. I said on public record, publicly, that I thought that the appropriate sentence should be two years, but the court made it a few months less than that. But it was not a difficult decision to take because what I decided should be done, is what is done to anybody who does what he did,” said Zondo.

--ChannelAfrica--