Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s retirement is ‘good riddance’

ANC veteran and former Parliamentary Chief Whip, Tony Yengeni, has emphatically suggested that the outgoing Chief Justice Raymond Zondo did not perform his duties to the best interest of the country.

The tenure of Chief Justice Zondo at the helm of the Constitutional Court comes to an end on 31 August.

A historical era will begin in September when current Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya becomes the first woman to head up South Africa’s apex court.

After serving 27 years in the South African judiciary, Zondo will be remembered for the controversial State Capture Commission, which is marking its sixth anniversary on 21 August 2024.

Taking to X on Wednesday, Yengeni said: “Africa is cursed with sub standard leaders who pander to their erstwhile colonial masters. Good riddance.”

“Throwing [former president] Zuma to prison without a trial is a gross travesty of justice. That’s Zondo’s dubious legacy,” Yengeni added.

The highly politicised commission was led by Zondo to investigate allegations of state capture, corruption, and fraud in the public sector, including organs of state.

After four years of investigation and evidence gathering, the state capture report was eventually made public in 2022 in six volumes spread across several months, something that left the public with more questions than answers.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa appoints Justice Mandisa Maya as Chief Justice.

Zondo, 64, began practicing law when he served articles under anti-Apartheid activist Victoria Mxenge before her assassination at the hands of Apartheid operatives.

According to the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ), Zondo was appointed as a Judge of the Labour Court in 1997. In April 1999 he was appointed as a Judge of the then Transvaal Provincial Division of the High Court. He served for close to eleven years as Judge-President of the Labour Appeal Court and Labour Court. His ten-year term of office as Judge-President ended in April 2010.

Following 15 years on the lower benches, Zondo was then appointed as a Constitutional Court Justice in 2012.

In June 2017 he was appointed as Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa. The following year, in January 2018 he was appointed as the Chairperson of the State Capture Commission, also known as the Zondo Commission.

With effect from 1 April 2022 he was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa.