Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo is facing a conundrum of the Brian Molefe kind.

Molefe has previously admitted to having close ties with the politically connected Gupta family, but denies they had anything to do with his rise to becoming boss of SA’s two most strategic state-owned companies, Eskom and Transnet.

But the controversial family somehow always knew of his promotions and boasted about their role in them, according to prior testimony at the state capture commission...