The Pietermaritzburg high court on Thursday suspended the private prosecution that Jacob Zuma brought against state prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for a hearing in early August.
In March, the court will hear separate requests from Downer, the prosecutor in the former president’s fraud and corruption trial, and Maughan to have Zuma’s charges thrown out.
The corruption trial was postponed on Monday until April 17 after Judge Piet Koen abstained from the case for reasons related to Zuma’s tireless legal pursuit to have Downer removed as prosecutor in the matter.
Zuma’s attorney confirmed Monday that they intended to file a request for his removal on the basis that he cannot prosecute a defendant while he himself is implicated in a crime by said defendant on charges related to his conduct at the case.
Zuma has accused Downer and Maughan of contravening the National Revenue Authority (NPA) Act.
It alleges that Downer violated section 41 of the Act by disclosing documents in the possession of the authority without the permission of the national director of public prosecution.
At issue is a copy of an affidavit filed by Downer in response to Zuma’s request for a postponement of his corruption trial. Zuma had attached a letter from a military doctor to his own affidavit, in which he claimed that the former president needed urgent treatment for an undisclosed ailment.
It was also attached to Downer’s affidavit. Maughan received copies of both affidavits from the NPA’s attorney. Both affidavits, plus the medical note that led to her postponement, became part of the public court file before she published an article about News 24 on the request for postponement.
But Zuma alleges that his medical information was leaked, even though he did not claim confidentiality when he submitted the letter to the court.
Downer and Maughan have denied any wrongdoing and described the private prosecution as a flagrant abuse of process.
In 2021, Zuma filed a special plea under section 106(1)(h) of the Criminal Procedure Act arguing that Downer lacked title to prosecute him on fraud and corruption charges because he was not sufficiently impartial. Koen dismissed the claim and denied Zuma leave to appeal.
The Supreme Court of Appeals and the Constitutional Court followed suit. With all avenues of appeal exhausted, the trial can now resume.
But Koen said the strong views he had expressed about the merits of Zuma’s objections to Downer leading the prosecution can be construed as creating a reasonable apprehension of bias in the context of the “unique and novel” situation created by the prosecution. private.
“The implications and impact thereof must be considered very carefully, free of any previously expressed views on matters that reasonably affect those issues.”
Zuma faces 12 counts of fraud, one of extortion, two of corruption and one of money laundering for allegedly accepting bribes, through his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, from Thales, the French aerospace and defense multinational.
In December, on the eve of the ANC national conference, he served a summons on President Cyril Ramaphosa in an attempt to charge him as an accessory to the alleged violation of the NPA Act.
Last month, the Johannesburg High Court granted Ramaphosa an injunction to halt proceedings pending a hearing on his legal challenge to the validity of the summons.
The president called Zuma’s attempt to impeach him a political stunt.
