The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday adjourned Jacob Zuma’s personal prosecution launched against state prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan to be heard in early August.
The court in March will hear separate applications by Downer, the prosecutor in the former president’s arms deal fraud and corruption case, and Maughan to have the charges brought against Zuma set aside.
The corruption trial was on Monday adjourned until April 17 after Judge Piet Koen recused himself from the case for reasons related to Zuma’s tireless legal efforts to have Downer removed as prosecutor in the case.
Zuma’s advisers confirmed that they intended to bring an application for safekeeping on the basis that they could not sue the accused when he himself was accused of a crime by saying he was accused of the charges related to his actions in the case.
Zuma has prosecuted Downer and Maughan for breaching the National Prosecuting Authority Act (NPA).
He said Downer had breached section 41 of the law by disclosing authorized documents without the consent of the national director of public prosecutions.
At issue is a copy of the affidavit submitted by Downer in response to Zuma’s application for an adjournment in the corruption trial. Zuma had attached a letter from a military doctor to his own affidavit, stating that the former president needed urgent treatment for an unknown illness.
It was also attached to Downer’s affidavit. Maughan was given copies of two affidavits by lawyers for the NPA. Both affidavits, plus medical records motivating the suspension, became part of the public court record prior to the publication of the article about News24 in the application for adjournment.
But Zuma said his medical information was leaked, although he failed to claim confidentiality when he submitted the letter to the court.
Downer and Maughan denied wrongdoing and described the private prosecution as an abuse of process.
In 2021, Zuma entered a special plea under section 106(1)(h) of the Criminal Procedure Act arguing that Downer did not have title to prosecute him on charges of fraud and corruption because he was not impartial. Koen rejected the request and denied Zuma an appeal.
The high court of appeal and the constitutional court followed. With all avenues of appeal exhausted, the trial may proceed.
But Koen said the strong opinion he expressed about Zuma’s objection to Downer leading the prosecution could be seen as creating a reasonable bias in the context of the “unique and novel” circumstances created by the private prosecutor.
“The implications and impact must be carefully considered, independent of previously expressed opinions on matters that may affect the issue.”
Zuma faces 12 charges of fraud, one of racketeering, two of corruption and one of money laundering for allegedly taking bribes, through his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, from Thales, a French aerospace and defense multinational.
In December, on the eve of the ANC’s national conference, he sent a summons to President Cyril Ramaphosa to charge him as an accessory after the fact for allegedly violating the NPA Act.
Last month, the Johannesburg High Court granted Ramaphosa an injunction to halt the proceedings pending the hearing of a legal challenge to the validity of the summons.
The president called Zuma’s attempt to impeach him a political stunt.