
CAPE TOWN - Former president Jacob Zuma's latest bid to appeal the high court ruling that he reimburses the legal fees paid on his behalf by the State was spurious, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday.
"The DA is of the view that there are no new grounds for the former president’s latest application for leave to appeal, as he already tried and failed in a previous bid to have the high court judgment overturned," said James Selfe, the chairman of the DA's federal executive.
Zuma is petitioning the Supreme Court of Appeal to allow him to challenge the 2018 Pretoria High Court order that he repay about R16 million in legal fees spent on fighting the corruption charges against him.
The high court previously ruled that the former president had no reasonable prospect of having the ruling overturned. In his court papers, Zuma reportedly alleges that the order to cut off state funding for his myriad legal challenges was a violation of his right and accuses the high court judges of being unfair to him.
Selfe said the charges Zuma faced had nothing to do with any political office he has occupied, and therefore the DA firmly believed that he must pay his own legal costs.