Zuma Corruption Charges: President Zuma persists with losing case

31 August 2016

President Jacob Zuma has this week filed his replying affidavit to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) seeking leave to appeal the North Gauteng High Court’s judgement that the discontinuation of the prosecution against him was manifestly irrational and borne from considerations not rooted in law. The President’s insistence on pursuing a losing case is out of sheer desperation to avoid having his day in court. It is an exercise into which more taxpayer rands will be needlessly plundered.

President Zuma in his affidavit attempts to persuade the SCA that this matter is ripe for appeal in order to obtain legal clarity on “whether the NPA may…discontinue the prosecution on the basis of allegations of abuse of process.” 

In so doing the President persists in the narrative that there was a political conspiracy against him. This reaffirms the DA’s position that the dropping of the 783 charges of fraud and corruption levelled against Mr Zuma by the then acting NDPP, Mokotedi Mpshe, was for political reasons and not legal ones.

President Zuma’s reliance on claims of a political conspiracy are accordingly irrelevant as Adv Mpshe has already disavowed any reliance on the report when he stated that no firm conclusions could be reached from it, therefore this argument put forward by President Zuma falls away.

To this end the DA maintains that there are no reasonable prospects of success nor are there any other compelling reasons why the appeal should be heard. The full bench of the North Gauteng High Court ventilated these issues and they too came to the determination that an appeal to the SCA would be unsuccessful.

We therefore contend that this application, like all the others that precede it, will be unsuccessful and we are optimistic that the SCA will dismiss this application for leave to appeal and in so doing uphold the North Gauteng High Court’s judgement declining the government respondent’s leave to appeal on 24 June 2016.

Issued by Samkele Mgobozi, Manager: DA Press Office, 31 August 2016