ConCourt dismisses Zuma, Mbeki bid to recuse TRC inquiry chair

Former presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki have lost their legal bid to remove retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe as chairperson of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into alleged political interference in post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission prosecutions. The Constitutional Court on Monday, August 31, 2026, dismissed their application for her recusal, allowing the inquiry to continue under her leadership. The court's decision, delivered across three separate judgments, was split. A minority of four judges, in a judgment authored by Justice Leona Theron, found that a reasonable, well-informed observer could apprehend bias due to Khampepe's previous roles as a TRC commissioner and deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions. However, a majority of five judges dismissed the recusal challenge. Acting Justice Robert Nugent authored one judgment finding the former presidents failed to establish a reasonable apprehension of bias, while Justice Steven Rogers delivered a separate concurrence. In a related legal point, the court ruled that Section 47(1) of the Superior Courts Act, which deals with proceedings against judges, did not apply to Khampepe.