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Concourt to decide on Msholozi tomorrow

The long-awaited Constitutional Court judgment on the searches relating to the corruption investigation against ANC president Jacob Zuma, pictured, and arms company Thint will be handed down tomorrow, the court said.

The long-awaited Constitutional Court judgment on the searches relating to the corruption investigation against ANC president Jacob Zuma, pictured, and arms company Thint will be handed down tomorrow, the court said.

In March Zuma and Thint asked the court to rule that the warrants that authorised the searches of Zuma's offices and home as well as the offices of his lawyers and the offices of Thint were invalid, and that a letter of request to Mauritian authorities for original documents the state required should not have been issued.

This followed an unsuccessful approach to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

They argued that the warrants were an invasion of their privacy, and allowing the issue of the letter of request threatened their right to a fair trial.

Zuma and Thint are due in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday to apply for the investigation against them to be reviewed on the grounds that it violates their Constitutional rights.

National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe yesterday said Zuma should have complained a lot sooner.

This is according to the heads of argument filed by the state in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

Zuma claims that the NPA was obliged in terms of the Constitution and the National Prosecuting Authority Act of 1998 to give him the opportunity to make representations before it decided to prosecute him in 2005 and 2007.

He also claims that the decision to prosecute him was a reversal of a decision taken by former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, who announced in August 2003 that he had a prima facie case against Zuma, but would not be prosecuting him.

The court in May complained to the Judicial Service Commission that Cape Judge John Hlophe had allegedly approached two judges to try to influence the outcome of the case. - Sapa

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