Zuma loses bid in ConCourt for Maya to reconsider removal of Downer

The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) has dismissed former president Jacob Zuma’s bid to force former head of the Supreme Court of Appeal Mandisa Maya to reconsider his bid to remove prosecutor Billy Downer from his corruption trial.

News24 reports that the ConCourt unanimously dismissed Zuma’s argument that Maya grossly misdirected herself by refusing to reconsider his bid.

Zuma had asked the court to grant him leave to appeal Judge Piet Koen’s dismissal, in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg, of his special plea to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Special plea

Koen dismissed the former president’s special plea application to remove Downer from prosecuting his corruption case as Zuma sought to challenge Downer’s title to prosecute on the basis that he was biased.

ALSO READ: Zuma lodges private prosecution proceedings against Downer and journalist

The Jacob Zuma Foundation tweeted on Wednesday that Zuma can exercise his right to appeal the adverse decision of the High Court directly to the Constitutional Court but did not say if he would do so.

Zuma is due back in court on 17 October.

Private prosecution

The former president has launched private prosecution proceedings against Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.

The duo are challenging it as an abuse of court processes.

Downer reportedly wants Zuma to put up an additional R1 million as security for legal costs should Zuma’s private prosecution against him fail.

The former president, who received a private prosecution certificate from the NPA in June, claims Downer leaked his confidential medical records to Maughan, which were later published by the news website.

Alleged leak

The alleged leak related to a letter written by Brigadier Mcebisi Mdutywa last year, when Zuma was imprisoned at Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal for being in contempt of court, after he refused to appear before the state capture commission.

In his letter to prison authorities, Mdutywa said Zuma had suffered a “traumatic injury” in November 2020, and needed “extensive emergency treatment” with six months to recover

The matter is expected to be heard on 10 October 2022.

ALSO READ: Sanef: Zuma private prosecution on journo an ‘attack on media freedom’

Compiled by Faizel Patel