What if I put it to you that Advocate Barry Roux is defending Jacob Zuma?

While former president Jacob Zuma was conspicuously absent from court proceedings on Monday, another high-profile name was added to his defence team, none other than Advocate Barry Roux.

Roux, who shot to prominence during the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, was seen at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Monday during proceedings for the multi-billion rand arms deal corruption case.

While Adv Roux didn’t put anything officially to Judge Piet Koen, he did consult with Advocate Sifiso Buthelezi, who led the defence’s arguments.

‘What if I put it to you: Internet predicted Roux would defend Zuma’

Roux’s fierce defence of the Blade Runner had the nation and world enthralled when he took on then-state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who was equally fierce in his prosecutorial approach.

Roux’s strengths arguably lie in his scathing cross-examination skills, like when he reduced the police’s investigating officer on the Pistorius murder case to a bumbling, stammering mess in the witness box.

He can also go from a caring uncle figure sweetly inquiring about something to a volatile rottweiler in a matter of seconds.

At the height of the murder trial, South Africa’s internet exploded with Barry Roux memes, one of which foretold of this day, albeit on a different case.

At the time, Zuma was under fire for the security upgrades made to his private residence in Nkandla on the taxpayer’s dime.

Fast forward to 2022, Roux is part of Zuma’s defence team but on the arms deal trial.

Roux’s counsel is not cheap

Roux’s presence on the defence team, which also includes another well-known South African advocate, Dali Mpofu, has some wondering how the embattled former statesman can afford the high profile advocate, whose daily rate is reported to be in the region of about R50 000.

In 2015, after Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide, his legal team, while opposing an application to have the conviction changed to murder, submitted that the once rich Blade Runner’s “financial ability” to pay for a new trial is “non-existent”.

Controversial Bronkhorstspruit-based diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg is financially backing the former president’s private prosecution of state advocate Billy Downer and News24 journalist Karyn Maughan.

But it’s unclear how Zuma is funding his defence in the arms deal case, where he and French arms firm Thales are facing 18 counts of corruption, including money laundering, tax evasion, and racketeering.

NOW READ: How Jacob Zuma is funding his private prosecution against Downer and Maughan