Johannesburg - The Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture on Friday denied reports that it had agreed to give former president Jacob Zuma's legal team a prepared list of questions before he took the stand to testify.
Judge Raymond Zondo said the commission had in fact merely agreed to indicate to Zuma's lawyers which subjects it found of interest.
This was after Zuma elected to withdraw his testimony on Friday after a dispute over the line of questioning by evidence leader advocate Paul Prestorius.
"This means that, if in a witness’ affidavit or statement various incidents or events are dealt with, the commission’s legal team will indicate which ones of those incidents or events or matters they would like the former president to provide his version on," the commission said in a statement.
"The agreement does not say that the commission’s legal team must furnish the questions that they intend to ask the former president on that incident or event or matter."
The commission said it was rebuffing media reports which were reporting that the commission and Zuma's legal team had come to an agreement that he would be provided with questions prior to his appearance before the inquiry.
"The chairperson wishes to state that this is not correct," the commission said.