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Newsdeck

Zuma confirms Zondo commission appearance, but will he testify?

Former President Jacob Zuma on the second day appearing at the High Court in Pietermaritzburg today. He's facing charges of racketeering, corruption, money laundering and fraud relating to the 1999 arms deal. Picture: MotshwarI Mofokeng/African News Agency(ANA)/Pool

Former president Jacob Zuma has personally confirmed that he will appear before the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture on Monday, saying "we'll see how it goes".

Zuma was speaking to SABC News in the Randburg Magistrates Court on Friday morning, just moments after his son Duduzane was acquitted of culpable homicide.

Duduzane Zuma was accused of causing the death of Phumzile Dube in February 2014, when the car he was driving was involved in a collision with a taxi on the M1 highway in Sandton.

Zuma also told the public broadcaster that he was pleased with the not guilty judgment and that the trial had found that Duduzane wasn’t negligent.

Last month, the commission confirmed the former president would be appearing in the third week of July.

His lawyer, Dan Mantsha, earlier told News24 that Zuma was “relishing the moment”.

“There has never been any correspondence from us that he does not want to attend. He has always raised his concerns about the [impartiality] and fairness displayed by the commission, according to his views. It is his view that the commission, from the word go, has treated him as an accused person,” Mantsha said.

Speaking in Zulu on Friday, Zuma said: ” Eqinisweni ngicelwe iCommission ukuthi ke ngizobeka engase ngikubeke, sekuzozwakala khona ukuthi kuhamba kanjani … ngiyaya khona . (Truthfully, I was called by the commission to come ‘say my piece’, so we will meet there and we will see how it goes… I’m going.)”

It still remains unclear whether Zuma will testify, block the commission’s attempts to have him give testimony, or use the opportunity to reiterate his claims that he is being targeted as part of political battles.

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