High court to rule on Zuma #spytapes case

07/04/2016. President Jacob Zuma listens to a speaker during the second sitting of the session of the fifth national house of traditional leaders at Tshwane Council Chambers in Pretoria. Picture: Masi Losi

07/04/2016. President Jacob Zuma listens to a speaker during the second sitting of the session of the fifth national house of traditional leaders at Tshwane Council Chambers in Pretoria. Picture: Masi Losi

Published Apr 28, 2016

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Cape Town – The North Gauteng High Court will on Friday rule on the opposition’s application for review of the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision seven years ago to drop 783 criminal charges against President Jacob Zuma.

The Democratic Alliance said should the court find in its favour, the decision that paved the way for Zuma to be elected president weeks later, could be reversed.

“We contend that the decision taken by the then acting National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Mokotedi Mpshe, was irrational, unreasonable and made with an ulterior political motive. This could have the effect of reinstating the charges against President Zuma,” James Selfe, the chairman of the party’s federal executive, said.

Mpshe threw the case out on the basis that the so-called spy tapes — recordings of tapped phone calls between senior officials in the Thabo Mbeki administration — suggested they manipulated the timing of Zuma’s indictment for fraud, corruption and racketeering for political reasons.

The DA maintained that this was not sufficient reason to withdrew the charges, and Selfe reiterated on Thursday that his party believed that issue should instead have been aired in trial court.

He acknowledged that Friday’s judgment would not be the final chapter in the long-running legal saga, because Zuma was certain to appeal if it went against him and the DA would do the same.

“Whoever loses this round is bound to appeal to the SCA and doubtless, in due course, to the Constitutional Court. It has taken seven years to get to this point in the litigation, and the finalisation of any appeals process will no doubt take a few years more thereafter.”

He added: “But ultimately the time and the cost is necessary to remind the president, the NPA and South Africa as a whole, that every decision to prosecute or not to prosecute must be made without fear or favour, and that even number one is not above the law.”

African News Agency

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