In its Heads of Argument to the Constitutional Court, the Zondo Commission said that the former president’s “public defiance” of the court “appears calculated to undermine public trust in the judiciary and the administration of justice as a whole”.
Zuma did not file a responding affidavit or notice to oppose, which garnered this reaction from the commission in its papers: “Bearing in mind what he has stated publicly about this court, it would have been expected that he would defend or explain his utterances on oath, before this court. The legal effect of his failure to file an opposing affidavit, however, is that all the facts alleged by the commission must be taken to be established.”