Johannesburg - Former president Jacob Zuma has vowed to oppose President Cyril Ramaphosa’s court application to interdict him from continuing with his private prosecution bid on the issue of Billy Downer and Karyn Maughan set to resume before the Gauteng High Court on January 19.
This comes after Ramaphosa reportedly filed papers in the Gauteng High Court on Tuesday for an urgent application to interdict Zuma from going ahead with his private prosecution bid against Ramaphosa.
In the same application, Ramaphosa has requested the court to excuse him from appearing before court, set for January 19, as directed by the summons.
The news comes after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) made a determination that the non-prosecution certificate obtained by Zuma to grant him an opportunity for private prosecution was not related to Ramaphosa.
Zuma accused Ramaphosa of being an “accessory after the fact” in a criminal offence charge alleged against advocate William Downer, who is accused of improperly sharing information in terms of the NPA Act.
On Wednesday, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said it was surprised to learn of the president’s application to the High Court to have the matter heard on an urgent basis.
“The JGZ Foundation is pleasantly surprised at media reports that Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, who is rather accused person having been criminally charged on December 15, 2022, has finally come to his senses and has taken steps to allow the courts to determine the validity or otherwise of the criminal summons delivered by the private prosecutor,” (sic) the foundation said.
Spokesperson for the foundation, Mzwanele Manyi, said it would take time to study Ramaphosa’s court papers and that the foundation would later make an informed decision on the matter.
“H.E. Zuma will do his best to locate and consult with his legal team. Once they have studied the papers, a more comprehensive statement will be released. For now, it is sufficient to indicate that the application will be opposed,” Manyi said.
Ahead of the 55th National Conference in Nasrec, Zuma launched a private prosecution bid against Ramaphosa for allegedly contravening the NPA Act following the disclosure of his medical records by prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.
Ramaphosa had demanded that Zuma withdraw his private prosecution within three days, but Zuma’s legal team refused to comply with Ramaphosa’s demands.
Zuma has alleged that Downer and Maughan acted in an unethical manner and were in criminal breach of the NPA Act, which requires prosecutors to obtain written permission from the National Director of Prosecutions before disclosing the contents of documents in their possession.
Zuma’s legal team subsequently added Ramaphosa to the list of the accused, with the presidency saying these charges against the president were “completely spurious and unfounded”.
The president has argued that the certificate granted to Zuma as a legal confirmation that the NPA would not proceed with the prosecution following its consideration of the charges was not issued directly against him.
“Mr Zuma has not provided such a certificate with charges in the name of President Ramaphosa, and the summons served to the president is hopelessly substandard and demonstrates an absolute disregard for the law,” Ramaphosa said recently.
The Star