BREAKING: Zuma must face the music
The NPA has lost its bid to appeal against a ruling that set aside the decision to discontinue Zuma’s prosecution for corruption.
Judgment was given today in President Jacob Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) bid to appeal against a court ruling that the president must be be prosecuted on charges of fraud and corruption.
It was not good news for Zuma, who must now be prosecuted. A full bench of the high court said the NPA and Zuma elevated and misinterpreted their judgment and were unable to raise any new legal points, therefore leave to appeal was denied.
The DA opposed their application for leave to appeal against a ruling by a full bench of the high court, which set aside a 2009 decision by former acting national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) Mokotedi Mpshe to discontinue Zuma’s prosecution on 783 charges of fraud and corruption.
The DA argued that the president could bring an application for a permanent stay in prosecution if he was so interested in testing the alleged abuse of the NPA’s authority.
Mpshe’s decision was based on the “spy tapes” – conversations between former Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy and former NDPP Bulelani Ngcuka about whether to serve the indictment on Zuma before or after the ANC’s Polokwane conference, at which Zuma beat Thabo Mbeki to head the ANC.
Zuma was sworn in as president shortly after the charges were formally withdrawn against him.
The NPA and Zuma argued that the court’s ruling did not mean the charges were reinstated and that the court could not order Zuma to face the charges because it would mean interference with the NPA’s authority.
The DA, however, argued that the effect of the review decision meant that the charges were automatically reinstated and that Zuma should face them unless he brought an application for the permanent stay of his prosecution.
The NPA argued that the administration of justice required the Supreme Court of Appeal to hear the appeal as it involved issues of great constitutional importance concerning a sitting president and the powers of the NPA.
The NPA maintained the court had gone too far by finding Mpshe should have referred the matter to a court and saying Zuma should face the charges in the indictment.
Counsel for the president argued that there had been such an unconscionable abuse of the NPA’s powers to achieve a political outcome that Mpshe’s decision was “totally rational”.
It was argued that Zuma was not simply an “extra wheel” in the case, which had important consequences for the rights of all accused persons generally.
– ilsedl@citizen.co.za
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