Zuma spy tapes: 'State must lead by example'
Pretoria - The pursuit of one individual, President Jacob Zuma, could not trump the NPA’s independence, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Wednesday.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s senior advocate Hilton Epstein argued that former acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe had exercised his discretion, in line with powers given to him by the Constitution and the NPA Act, when he decided to drop corruption charges against Zuma in April 2009.
The court could only interfere in such decisions in exceptional circumstances.
The DA wanted the court to set aside Mpshe's decision to drop corruption charges against Zuma as irrational and unlawful. The NPA was defending the decision.
The decision was partially based on the contents of taped conversations between Leonard McCarthy, then head of the Scorpions, and former NPA head Bulelani Ngcuka, about whether to serve the indictment on Zuma before or after the ANC's Polokwane conference in December 2007.