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By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

The embattled former president, Jacob Zuma came out gun blazing and showed the State Capture Commission of Inquiry a ‘middle’ finger. This comes after the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the commission to forced Zuma to appear before it and cooperate.

Zuma walked out of the commission a few months ago and later requested the chairperson of the commission, Deputy Judge Justice Raymond Zondo to recuse himself citing a conflict of interest because he is a friend with Zondo.

However, dismissed Zuma’s allegations and said his relationship with Zuma was only ‘professional’. Now, Zuma has released a statement saying that he will never cooperate with the commission despite the Concourt ruling.

“It is patently clear to me that I am being singled out for different and special treatment by the judiciary and the legal system as a whole. I, therefore, states in advance that the Commission into Allegations of State Capture can expect no further co-operation from me in any of their processes going forward.

“If this stance is considered to be a violation of their law, then let their law take its course. I do not fear being arrested, I do not fear being convicted nor do I fear being incarcerated,”

Zuma said the recent extraordinary and unprecedented decision of the ConCourt stripped him of his basic constitutional rights as an individual citizen. He said when the former Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela stipulated the terms upon which the President would establish a commission of inquiry to look into allegations of state capture, she had recommended that the chairperson of the inquiry be appointed by the Chief Justice and not the president as is the normal and correct legal procedure.

“As the President at the time, I legally challenged this approach by the Public Protector stating that she was overstepping the powers of her office by imposing the decision to appoint a commission of inquiry on the president and by imposing how the head of that commission of the inquiry should be appointed.

“The Public Protector stated that she made the recommendation of the appointment of a commission of inquiry because her term of office was ending and she would not have had sufficient time to complete her investigation into the complaints that had been lodged,” said Zuma.

He added that this in itself was also legally problematic in that, the investigation was carried out by her office and not her as an incumbent in that office. Zuma said Madonsela’s successor would have carried on with the work she had started as the work is that of the office of Public Protector and not the individual serving as the Public Protector at the time.

“Madonsela did not leave that office having completed every single investigation that was before her when her term ended but deemed it necessary that this particular investigation be referred to a commission of inquiry and not the other investigations that she had not completed at the time.

It was clear then as is clear now that given that this matter contained specific allegations against Zuma, it needed a different and special approach that would deviate from the law and the constitution to ensure that Zuma was dealt with differently,” he said.

He outlined that the High Court in Pretoria decided in favour of the Public Protector in that legal challenge stating, amongst other things, that the commission of inquiry as recommended by the Public Protector would be different in that it would only have such powers as are directly equal to the powers of the office of the Public Protector.

“What has subsequently transpired with the establishment and functioning of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture is completely at odds with what the court stated as the envisaged purpose of this commission.

“The Commission into Allegations of State Capture led by Zondo, has followed in the steps of the former Public Protector in how it also has continued with creating a special and different approach to specifically, deal with Zuma,” he said.

Zuma alleged that Zondo has unprovoked called special press conferences to make specific announcements about him. He further said this has never happened to any other witness.

“Recently, the commission ran to the ConCourt on an urgent basis to get it to compel me to attend at the commission and give answers. Effectively, this has undermined a litany of my constitutional rights including the right to the presumption of innocence.

“I have never said that I do not want to appear before the commission, but have said that I cannot appear before Deputy Chief Justice Zondo because of a well-founded apprehension of bias and a history of personal relations between the Deputy Chief Justice and myself,” said Zuma.

He added that he had taken the decision by the Deputy Chief Justice not to recuse himself on review as he believes his presiding over the proceedings do not provide him the certainty of a fair and just hearing. Zuma also took a jab at the ConCourt and accused it of also mimics the posture of the commission.

“This has now also created a special and different set of circumstances specifically designed to deal with Zuma by suspending my constitutional rights rendering me completely defenceless against the commission.

“The Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture should have been rightly named the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture against Jacob Zuma as it has been obviously established to investigate me specifically,” said Zuma.

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By REGINALD KANYANE

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to receive the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccine on Monday at the OR Tambo International Airport around 3pm.

According to the statement from the presidency, Ramaphosa will be accompanied by the Deputy President, David Mabuza who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Vaccines.

Ramphosa’s acting spokesperson, Tyren Seale said Ramaphosa and Mabuza will be joined by Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, Acting Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, High Commissioner of the Republic of India, Jaideep Sarkar and Dr Morena Makhoana who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Biovac.

“Biovac is a bio-pharmaceutical company that was formed in 2003 in a partnership between government and private investors to establish local vaccine manufacturing capability.

“Biovac will play an important role in the quality assurance, warehousing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. High Commissioner Sarkar will represent India as the country of origin of the first vaccine to be rolled out in South Africa,” Seale said.

He further said the Serum Institute of India has been licensed to produce a vaccine that has been developed by the multinational pharmaceutical and bio pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca in collaboration with the University of Oxford.

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Seale added that the arrival of the first consignment at OR Tambo International Airport marks the start of the vaccine rollout which Ramaphosa described as the largest and most complex logistical vaccine undertaking in South Africa’s country’s history.

“The scale of delivery is unprecedented in terms of the number of people who have to be reached within a short space of time. The aim of the vaccination programme is to achieve immunity across the population. The first phase of this rollout programme will prioritise around 1.2 million frontline health workers.

“Government is coordinating the vaccine programme through the committee chaired by Deputy President, which is focused on procurement, distribution, actual vaccination, monitoring, communication and mobilisation,” said Seale.

He said today’s arrival event will be brief, with dignitaries witnessing airline, airport, health, customs and security personnel perform their duties of ensuring that the vaccine consignment is cleared and securely transported to its cold-room destination.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, Johnn Steenhuisen said: “Today our lawyers made an urgent application to the Western Cape High Court to obtain a declarator that government’s conduct in procuring vaccines as well as its preparation for the rollout of these vaccines are in violation of several constitutional principles.

“We asked the court to instruct government to develop a comprehensive and coordinated vaccination rollout plan, and to deliver this plan no later than one month of the order.”

Steenhuisen added that the failure to provide COVID-19 vaccines timeously when these vaccines are available is a violation of people’s rights, in terms of Section 27(1) of the Constitution, to have access to healthcare services, as well as a violation of government’s obligation in terms of Section 27(2) to take reasonable measures to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to access healthcare.

He said furthermore, it is a violation of the right to life, as enshrined in Section 11 of the Bill of Rights.

“There is also no rationality in failing to secure sufficient vaccines despite knowing early on how important they’d be and having had access to them. This falls short of the fundamental constitutional prescript of the Rule of Law, which requires that decision-making be rational.

“The relief we are seeking is similar to the relief that the TAC was granted two decades ago when it took government to court to compel it to make public its antiretroviral rollout programme,” said Steenhuisen.

He further said without such a transparent plan that includes clear timelines and division of responsibilities, it will be impossible for not only the DA as official opposition, but also the media and civil society, to hold government to account.

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By BAKANG MOKOTO

The outgoing African Union chairperson, Cyril Ramaphosa said that they are working with the COVAX Facility to ensure that African countries also get their fair share of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Ramaphosa said the vaccine roll-out campaign has already commenced and is led by the Vaccine Acquisition Task Team.

“The vaccine rollout has already commenced on the continent and we aspire to have the majority of the continent’s population vaccinated by the end of 2021 to achieve herd immunity.

“We have acted as one to protect health, people, and livelihoods on the continent. In doing so, we have demonstrated our capacity for self-reliance and our ability to be the drivers of our own development,” he said.

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Ramaphosa further said despite the dominance of COVID-19, they have still managed to make advances in several of our key priorities. He said during their term, the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was finally launched, heralding a new era of intra-African trade and economic integration.

“Even under the difficult conditions posed by the pandemic, the continent has pushed ahead towards the goal of ‘silencing the guns’ on the continent. The AU has been actively involved in negotiations around the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, in achieving a ceasefire in Libya and promoting peace in South Sudan.

“The priorities we outlined for our term, among them furthering peace and security, the economic empowerment of women, and deepening economic integration had to be immediately and dramatically reoriented to deal with the pandemic.

“Our most pressing task was to steer the focus of the African Union to addressing the worst global emergency in over a century. COVID-19 has affected all the countries on the continent. To date, there are more than 3.5 million confirmed cases in Africa and more than 88,000 people have died,” said Ramaphosa.

He added that it has been a health, humanitarian, social and economic crisis for African countries, most of which are inadequately resourced to manage a health emergency of this size. Ramaphosa added that yet, as unprecedented as the nature of the pandemic has been, so too has been the manner in which African countries have come together to fight it.

“In doing so, we have drawn principally on the continent’s own expertise, capabilities, and institutions such as Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

“Africa did not sit by passively as the true extent and danger of the pandemic unfurled. From the earliest days of the pandemic and led by the AU, we swiftly developed a continental response strategy, driven by the Africa CDC and regional task forces,” he said.

Ramaphosa said they have realised that every country on the continent would be severely affected by the pandemic. He said most would not have the resources needed to meet the public health challenge or to protect their economies.

“We, therefore, agreed as African countries to appoint several prominent Africans as special envoys, who would engage with international funders and multilateral institutions to make the case for financial support and debt relief on Africa’s behalf.

“In this way, working as one continent, we were able to achieve debt relief for many countries and financial assistance towards our COVID response and economic recovery. But much as African countries went to the international community for support, we first helped ourselves – establishing and capitalising a continental COVID-19 Response Fund,” said Ramaphosa.

He further said for every partnership forged with better-resourced nations and the international donor community, they have set up their own innovative and ground-breaking African Medical Supplies Platform to enable all African countries to quickly secure personal protective equipment and other medical supplies in an equitable, affordable manner.

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