[imagesource: Thulani Mbele / Gallo Images / Sowetan]
I guess he couldn’t handle the heat.
When Jacob Zuma and his legal team cried foul on Wednesday, saying the former president and current martyr was being unfairly treated, you knew his participation in the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture was more than likely over.
He got to spout his conspiracy theories, he got to play the victim, he got to throw others under the bus, and now he wants out.
Here’s how this morning played out, via News24:
10:07 – Evidence leader Paul Pretorius says they are ready to proceed.
The correspondence between the commission and Zuma’s lawyers is confidential, Pretorius says, but he is happy to convey what was discussed.
The commission’s legal team will continue to exercise its powers delegated to them and contemplated by the relevant legislation, Pretorius explains.
10:08 – Pretorius is reading out the commission’s rules and the legal team’s powers.
“The commission’s legal team wishes to place on record that it will not make any concessions in that regard… (in carrying out its powers)”.
10:16 – BREAKING: Former president Jacob Zuma’s legal team says he will withdraw from the commission.
10:17 – Adv Muzi Sikhakhane for Zuma: We are here to tell you that Zuma will take “no further part” in the proceedings.
From there on out, the victim card was brandished out by his legal team, with Sikhakhane saying that witnesses must not be “persecuted”.
He added that Zuma cannot continue “while this commission thinks we must just walk him (Zuma) into Kgosi Mampuru prison and be done”.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
Imagine being the lawyer who has to defend the man who sold the country’s soul, and doing so with a straight face?
Anyway, the legal teams traded blows as the announcement was made, and you can watch how that played out below:
[source:news24]
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