Zuma ‘waives’ right to appeal but won’t be in court after medical emergency

Rainy conditions in Pietermaritzburg prevented supporters of former president Jacob Zuma from attending the start of his trial in the high court.
Rainy conditions in Pietermaritzburg prevented supporters of former president Jacob Zuma from attending the start of his trial in the high court.
Image: Mfundo Mkhize

Former president Jacob Zuma has “waived” his right to appeal in court today, but his application for postponement can proceed, his advocate Dali Mpofu said on Monday.

Zuma is said to be unwell and under the care of the surgeon-general.

“A medical emergency took place in the past few hours,” Mpofu told judge Piet Koen.

“He is being attended to and we are assured we might get some kind of documentation later today.”

The state and Koen agreed the application could proceed in his absence.

Zuma is determined to press ahead with criminal charges against lead prosecutor advocate Billy Downer for allegedly “leaking” documents to a journalist which, he says, contained his private medical information.

National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shamila Batohi has declined to prosecute in the matter.

However, Zuma’s lawyers said he will initiate a private prosecution and is waiting for the required certificate of “nolle prosecute”.

The intended private prosecution is Zuma’s next legal move in what seems to be his bottomless hat of legal tricks he will use on Monday to persuade the Pietermaritzburg high court judge to grant yet another postponement of the criminal trial related to the arms deal in which he and his co-accused, French arms company Thales, are facing charges of corruption, money-laundering and fraud.

Regarding the “leaking allegations”, Koen has already found this was no reason to bar Downer from prosecuting Zuma, as per Zuma’s “special plea” in which he claimed Downer should not have “title to prosecute” because he is biased and had committed acts of misconduct.

Koen said “title to prosecute” was an administrative term and Downer had been duly authorised to prosecute. He said any fair trial right allegations could be raised by Zuma during the trial or during any possible appeal.

He also said the document, which was attached to Zuma’s own application for a previous postponement of the trial on medical grounds, had been “vague” and did not disclose confidential details.

Zuma, however, said the refusal by the NDPP to institute criminal charges against “the culprits” had been made before police statements had been taken against some of those implicated.

He said the decision, and another decision by Batohi refusing to grant a personal, written demand by Zuma that she remove Downer from the case, was indicative of the “desperate frenzy and panic to cleanse Downer” ahead of the latest postponement application.

In the “special plea” application Koen refused to grant Zuma leave to appeal. The former president petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal which, in one sentence, also denied him leave to appeal, saying he had no prospects of success.

Zuma has approached Supreme Court of Appeal president Mandisa Maya, asking for a “reconsideration” of this decision, claiming it was vague and the two judges who ruled on the matter had not applied their minds properly.

His lawyers will argue on Monday that this is yet another solid ground for the case to be postponed.

They have also alluded to the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal in July last year, apparently sparked by Zuma’s arrest for contempt of court after he refused to obey a Constitutional Court ruling that he appear before the state capture inquiry.

The National Prosecuting Authority is vigorously opposing the postponement application.

Jacob Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi had earlier said Zuma, on the advice of his doctors, is ill and cannot attend today’s proceedings.

That will not preclude legal argument on the postponement, but his lawyers will have to again produce medical certificates to justify his absence.

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