Zuma and Mbeki challenge Justice Khampepe's role in TRC inquiry

FORMER presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki have launched another legal challenge to force retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe to recuse herself from chairing the commission investigating the failure to prosecute apartheid-era crimes.

- LOYISO SIDIMBA

Justice Khampepe was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in May last year to head the Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate political interference in the investigation and prosecution of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases following demands and legal action by families of victims and survivors of apartheid-era human rights violations.

She is assisted by retired Northern Cape Judge President Frans Kgomo and Advocate Andrea Gabriel SC.

Zuma and Mbeki are heading to the Gauteng High Court in a bid to overturn Justice Khampepe’s January 30 ruling, in which she refused to recuse herself as sought by the two former heads of state.