This followed Zuma’s failure to appear before the State Capture Commission last week, despite a summon and an order from the highest court to do so.

Zuma was due to answer questions relating to alleged government corruption during his tenure.

In what could be the first of its kind in South Africa, the commission wants Zuma to pay the costs of the application.

In an urgent application to the Constitutional Court, the commission’s Secretary, Prof Itumeleng Mosala, said the former President committed a number of contemptuous acts including: failing to appear at the commission to answer questions when he was summoned to do so, failing to file affidavits as per the Constitutional Court’s order, and making what have been described as “scurrilous statements” against the Constitutional Court and the whole of the judiciary.

--BBC--