President Jacob Zuma got the worst thrashing of his disgraceful presidency on Wednesday. Not only did he lose on every ground on which he had asked that the remedial action of the public protector’s report be set aside, but he was rebuked for recklessness and slapped with a personal costs order because his application was so obviously "a nonstarter". His conflict of interest on the question of an inquiry into state capture was glaring, said the high court. As a friend of the Gupta family and the father of Duduzane, their business partner, he could not reasonably expect that the Constitution would allow him the unfettered power to appoint a commission of inquiry into their activities or into his own collusion with them as president. While he must appoint a commission within 30 days, he cannot be trusted to exercise the power to appoint the judge who will preside over it. Instead, the chief justice will do the choosing. That this followed so soon after the same court days before strip...
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