The Democratic Alliance (DA) has argued that the decisions by the state attorney and the presidency to cover former president Jacob Zuma's legal costs are unlawful and should be set aside.
Sean Rosenberg SC‚ on behalf of the DA‚ argued before a full bench in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday that decisions taken by the accounting officer in the presidency to fund Zuma's fees were unlawful.
The DA has approached the court to seek a review of the presidency's decision to pay Zuma’s legal fees in criminal charges against him.
According to the party‚ the state has already spent at least R15.3-million on Zuma's legal fees. Zuma faces 18 criminal charges‚ including counts of fraud‚ racketeering‚ and money laundering.
Rosenberg argued that Section 3 (1) of the State Attorney Act does not provide for the covering of Zuma's legal costs in his personal capacity.
"Section 3 provides that the state attorney shall perform work on behalf of the government.
"The government was not a party to the criminal proceedings in which Mr Zuma was the accused in his personal capacity‚" Rosenberg argued.