Jacob Zuma is planning to bring a recusal application against deputy chief justice and chair of the State Capture inquiry, Raymond Zondo, who has summoned the former head of state to appear before him on 16 November.  

Zuma’s recusal application is likely to be argued on the grounds of bias and conflict of interest, and it must be brought before 16 November.

The conflict of interest relates to “historical family relations” as set out by Zuma’s lawyer in a letter to the commission. Now, Zondo has taken the battle to Zuma in a statement released on 29 October in which he detailed the relationship.

“In the mid 1990s – that is about 25 years ago – when I was in my 30s and was still in private practice as a lawyer – I got into a relationship with a certain woman out of which a child was born. That relationship ended in the 1990s.

“Unbeknown to anybody at the time, that woman’s sister, Ms Thobeka Madiba, was, many years after that relationship had ended, to get married to Mr Jacob Zuma. To my knowledge Mr Zuma had no relationship with Ms Thobeka Madiba in the mid 1990s.”

So, asks the judge, how can that be relevant today?

“That Mr Zuma happened to marry the sister of a woman with whom I had had a relationship that had ended so many years before that marriage have any bearing on the execution of my judicial functions in the many matters involving Mr Zuma in which I have sat as a justice of the Constitutional Court since 2012, nor does it have any bearing on the execution of my duties as Chairperson of the Commission.

“… in none of these matters has Mr Zuma ever expressed any complaint or concern nor has he ever brought an application for my recusal.”

Zuma’s lawyer Eric Mabuza told Daily Maverick that the recusal application will be brought “very soon”. This application can suspend the commission’s summons against Zuma. 

Judge Zondo is under increasing political pressure – growing calls for a woman chief justice come as Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng reaches the end of his term next year. 

There is no precedent or law that a deputy chief justice succeeds to the top bench. But former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke is widely regarded to have been punished for his politics when he did not succeed Pius Langa to the apex role.

Meanwhile, one of Zuma’s wives has started divorce proceedings against him, alleging that he is delinquent in his maintenance responsibilities. A source said one of the arguments the former head of state was likely to use against Zondo was that he supported the judge’s child with his sister-in-law. DM