- President Cyril Ramaphosa says Jacob Zuma’s decision to prosecute him privately is an abuse of legal process and a perversion of private process.
- zuma announced Thursday that he would prosecute Ramaphosa for “being [an] a posteriori accomplice of crimes committed by, among others, Adv [Billy] Downer” in alleged breaches of the NPA Act.
- Ramaphosa was not named as a defendant in Zuma’s private indictment against attorney Billy Downer and News24 journalist Karyn Maughan.
An abuse of the legal process and a perversion of the private prosecution process: this is how President Cyril Ramaphosa described the private prosecution that former President Jacob Zuma, accused of corruption, has instituted against him.
On Thursday night, minutes after Ramaphosa addressed businessmen at the ANC’s gala dinner on the eve of the party’s 55th national conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg, the JG Zuma Foundation announced that its sponsor, Zuma , had launched a private prosecution against Ramaphosa.
Zuma accused Ramaphosa of “being [an] accessory after the fact to crimes committed, inter alia, by Adv Downer” in alleged breaches of the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) Act.
Attorney Billy Downer is prosecuting Zuma on behalf of the state for corruption related to the arms deal.
Zuma seeks to privately prosecute Downer and News24 legal writer Karyn Maughan for allegedly violating the NPA Act by sharing court documents, filed by Zuma’s and state attorneys, that contained a sick note from the former military doctor. President.
According to the foundation’s statement, Zuma “duly instituted” the private prosecution against Ramaphosa in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, where the “defendant” (Ramaphosa) is due to appear on January 19.
On Twitter, Zuma sycophant Carl Niehaus invoked the ANC’s controversial stand-down rule, stating that Ramaphosa should now stand down.
In terms of their own rule, by stipulating that those who have been charged with a crime must ‘step aside’, @CyrilRamaphosa must now step aside. There can be no selective justice! What is true of the goose must be true of the goose. pic.twitter.com/gw4oFqJXQl
—Carl Niehaus (@niehaus_carl) December 16, 2022
Early Friday morning, the Presidency issued a statement in which Ramaphosa rejected Zuma’s move with the “utterest contempt” and characterized it as an “abuse of due process” and a “perversion” of the private prosecution provision. .
“In accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law, a private prosecution can only be initiated after the person accusing you has obtained a certificate of non-indictment. The certificate serves as legal confirmation that the National Prosecutor’s Office (NPA) will not proceed with the accusation, after its consideration of the charges”, reads the statement of the Presidency.
“Mr. Zuma has not provided such a certificate with charges in the name of President Ramaphosa. The subpoena sent to the President is hopelessly flawed and shows utter disregard for the law.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa
IACS
According to Presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya, Zuma’s charges were based on an allegation that Ramaphosa failed to act after Zuma complained about alleged misconduct by Downer and attorney Andrew Breitenbach SC.
“These charges are completely false and unfounded,” he said.
“President Ramaphosa responded promptly to Mr Zuma’s letter, indicating the steps he had taken, including referring the matter to Minister for Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, who has responsibility for overseeing the NPA. President Ramaphosa requested the Minister Lamola to refer the complaints of improper conduct against the lawyers Downer and Breitenbach to the Legal Practice Board”.
added:
President Ramaphosa does not interfere in the work of the NPA, nor does he have the power to do so. The president responded to Mr. Zuma and took appropriate and legally permissible steps.
Zuma’s latest legal maneuver appears to stem from a new “nolle prosequi” certificate he obtained for his proceedings against Downer and Maughan.
READ | Zuma’s private prosecution against Maughan, Downer postponed
The charges against Maughan and Downer relate to News24’s publication of an update on Zuma’s medical condition. The medical document was attached to court papers filed in Superior Court in 2021. Papers filed with the court are considered public records unless otherwise directed by a judge. There was no instruction in this case.
He did not reveal details of Zuma’s condition.
Also, Maughan didn’t get it from Downer.
Zuma filed a criminal charge against Downer last year. Ramaphosa was not a defendant in this charge and as such the nolle prosequi certificate did not relate to him.
Zuma only asked that Downer be investigated, naming Ramaphosa only once in the affidavit he submitted when he filed the charge at the Pietermaritzburg police station.
Zuma stated:
The alleged conduct is also part of separate investigations by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, and the Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola, and/or the Legal Practice Council.
The NPA refused to prosecute and issued a certificate of nolle prosequi. Zuma subsequently filed his private prosecution of Downer and Maughan. He indicated that he would call Ramaphosa as a witness in the matter.
In September, Maughan filed an urgent application asking the court to quash Zuma’s prosecution. He argued that the subpoena issued against him by Zuma’s legal team was a gross abuse of judicial process and should therefore be thrown out.
READ | Friends of the Court: Inside the Helen Suzman Foundation’s application to join Zuma vs. Downer, Maughan
She said that the former president had not obtained a certificate of nolle prosequi from the Director of Public Prosecutions that would allow him to initiate a private prosecution against her.
Last week, Zuma’s attorney submitted an affidavit at Maughan’s request, stating that they had obtained a new nolle prosequi certificate.
Following an aggressive letter from Zuma’s lawyer, Mongezi Ntanga, in which he accused Elaine Zungu, Director of the KwaZulu-Natal Public Prosecution Service (DPP), of bias and unreasonability for failing to issue a certificate of nolle prosequi for Maughan, Zungu issued a certificate of nolle prosequi, stating that she “refuses to prosecute anyone in this matter at the behest of the State.”
On Friday morning, the JG Zuma Foundation said in a statement that this was the certificate of nolle prosequi on which Zuma’s prosecution of Ramaphosa was based. Nowhere in Ntanga’s letter to Zungu is Ramaphosa mentioned.
Furthermore, the certificate was issued by the KwaZulu-Natal DPP and according to the JG Zuma Foundation, Zuma will prosecute Ramaphosa in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, raising a question of jurisdiction.
In its statement on Friday, the foundation said that, in terms of South African law, there was no difference between being charged by the NPA and being charged by a private prosecutor.
