Spy Tapes: Arbitrator appointed to hand over NPA records to the DA

22 August 2014

As of 16h00 today, legal teams representing the DA, President Zuma and the NPA have agreed on an arbitrator to review the full set of Spy Tapes records for release to the DA. 

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) originally used these records to drop over 700 counts of corruption against President Jacob Zuma.

This historic milestone in the Spy tapes saga follows an agreement in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on 15 August, whereby all parties were given until today to identify an arbitrator who would review the NPA's records for release to the DA's legal team. 

Importantly, President Zuma's legal team also conceded in court that there was no legal basis for withholding the Spy Tapes records from the DA.

An agreement was reached today to appoint retired SCA Judge Noel Hurt to act as an arbitrator. This appointment will now become an order of the SCA at a date to be determined by the court.

Once the SCA has finalized this order, all Spy Tapes records will be released to the arbitrator.

Only records determined by the arbitrator to be part of President Zuma's confidential submissions to the NPA, and therefore privileged, will not be released to the DA.

The decision of the arbitrator will be final and binding on all parties.

The DA's legal team will then study the records on receipt to determine whether a High Court Review of the NPA's decision is appropriate.

Following six court applications spanning 5 years since 2009, the most important review case in 20 years of democracy is finally reaching the end of the beginning.

At stake is the Constitutional principle of equality before the law, and whether this was subverted by the NPA in dropping the charges against President Zuma.

It is in the interests of all South Africans that we have a free and fair criminal justice system based on the Constitutional principle of equality before the law.

This is the principle the DA is prepared to defend until the very end, on behalf of the more than 4 million people who voted for us and all those who did not.

Today we are one step closer to justice, and the truth at the bottom of the Spy Tapes saga.

Statement issued by DA leader Helen Zille, August 23 2014

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