ConCourt rejects Zuma and Mbeki bid to remove Justice Khampepe from TRC inquiry

According to IOL, the Constitutional Court has dismissed former presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki’s application to have retired Justice Sisi Khampepe recused from the Judicial Commission of Inquiry examining alleged political interference in apartheid-era Truth and Reconciliation Commission matters.

Top court allows Khampepe to remain chair

The apex court delivered its judgment on Monday, 31 August 2026, allowing Justice Khampepe to remain as chairperson of the commission of inquiry. The court nevertheless granted the two former presidents leave to appeal the Johannesburg High Court’s earlier ruling.

Judgment and orders

Justice Leona Valerie Theron set out the court’s decision.

“On application for leave to appeal directly from the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Johannesburg, leave to appeal is granted. The appeal is partially upheld.”

Theron said the High Court’s order was set aside and replaced, and dismissed a preliminary point raised by the respondents concerning section 47.1 of the Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013. She also dismissed the recusal application that had challenged Khampepe’s ruling of 30 January 2026.

Costs and condonation

The court refused the application for condonation for the late filing of an explanatory affidavit and ordered that application to be refused with costs. With one exception related to a seventh respondent’s application, Justice Theron said each party is to pay their own costs in both the High Court and the Constitutional Court.

Grounds of the former presidents’ challenge

According to IOL, Zuma and Mbeki had asked the High Court to remove Khampepe on grounds that she failed to disclose the full extent of her previous role at the National Prosecuting Authority and her involvement in earlier TRC hearings, which they said created a reasonable apprehension of bias.

The High Court had found it lacked jurisdiction to decide the recusal application without prior permission because Khampepe is a retired judge. The former presidents argued that this was an error of law and that the High Court should have dealt with the merits of their recusal application.

They also complained that the High Court issued only a majority judgment and did not publish a dissenting judgment, which they said limited their constitutional rights and could lead to piecemeal litigation.

Scope of the inquiry

According to IOL, the judicial commission is probing allegations that political interference affected decisions not to prosecute certain apartheid-era matters that were referred for further investigation or prosecution after the TRC process.

For further details, IOL’s report was authored by Simon Majadibodu.