Jean-Jacques Cornish

Double legal trouble for President Jacob Zuma

It was double trouble for President Jacob Zuma when he lost two rulings in the Pretoria High Court.

The judges ruled that the South African President must pay personally pay the legal cost of his failed application to have the ombudsman’s ruling for a commission of inquiry into state capture set aside

They further ordered that Zuma is too conflicted to name the members of that commission himself

This is a further indication of power draining away from President Jacob Zuma. as the ruling African National Congress prepares to meet this week to elect his successor.

Party spokesman Zizi Khodwa welcomes the High Court ruling, saying an inquiry into state capture is in the country’s best interest.

Khodwa says Zuma must implement the court ruling without delay

Judge President Dunstan Mlambo says Zuma has 30 days to call for a commission of inquiry into state capture as instructed  by the then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela

The commission members must be named by the Chief Justice.

Madonsela welcomes the ruling, saying it gives Zuma pause.

Mlambo declared Zuma was ill advised and reckless to seek a review of her recommendation

He cannot continue wasting taxpayer’s money on vexatious legal challenges.

She says delaying the  commission of inquiry is  making a cold case of a very worrying phenomenon.

Evidence was disappearing every day.

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Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.

Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.

Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.

Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.

He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.

He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.

He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.

In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.

He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.

Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.