Zuma plans Hanekom appeal on free speech grounds

Former President Jacob Zuma’s lawyers are adamant that the KZN High Court (Durban) order barring him from accusing former Minister Derek Hanekom of being a ‘known enemy agent’ or ‘apartheid spy’ amounts to ‘an unconstitutional banning’ of Zuma’s right to free speech – and are fighting to appeal it on the basis that the ruling may limit his testimony before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, says a Business Day report. They say this will have a ‘chilling effect’ on his obligations to testify before the Zondo Commission, strongly suggesting that the former President intends using Hanekom’s successful legal action against him as a basis to not return to testify at the commission of inquiry. His lawyers argue that the order granted on Friday by Judge Dhaya Pillay – in favour of Hanekom’s urgent legal action against Zuma for referring to him as a ‘known enemy agent’ in a tweet – constitutes ‘an unjustified interference with the rights of (Zuma) to testify in the commission of inquiry’, notes the report.