High Court to deliver judgment on Zuma’s bid to remove Downer

Former president Jacob Zuma will find out on Wednesday whether his bid to force the removal of his arms deal corruption prosecutor Billy Downer will be successful.

Zuma objected to Downer leading his prosecution on behalf of National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), accusing the advocate of prosecutorial bias, claiming that Downer lacked the title to prosecute him.

In argument before Judge Nkosimathi Chili in October last year, the state argued that Zuma’s latest bid to force the removal of Downer was already dead in the water, because the pillars of his case “have been repeatedly and emphatically dismissed” in six different court rulings.

SCA ruling

In a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) Zuma was dealt a scathing blow, after the court unanimously dismissed his bid to privately prosecute Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for alleged breaches of the NPA Act by leaking his confidential medical information to Maughan in August 2021.

However, Downer and Maughan challenged the private prosecution on the basis that Zuma’s medical information was publicly available in court documents and did not include confidential details.

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Stalingrad strategy

In the judgment, which was supported by SCA President Mahube Molemela and three other SCA judges, Judge Nathan Ponnan dismissed Zuma’s appeal against the enforcement of the KZN High Court’s invalidation of his private prosecution.

Ponnan ruled that the private prosecution was “without any foundation in either fact (Mr Downer did not disclose Mr Zuma’s doctor’s report to Ms Maughan and there was no breach of confidentiality or privacy) or law (no cognisable offence has been committed, even if all of the facts alleged by Mr Zuma are true),”

Ponnan further ruled the “the private prosecution is part of the ‘Stalingrad strategy’ announced by Zuma’s counsel to Hugo J over a decade and a half ago, when he said: ‘This is not like a fight between two champ fighters. This is more like Stalingrad. It’s burning house to burning house.’ It is further demonstrated by the patent lack of substance to the charges; by the fact that Mr Zuma has clearly not pursued the prosecution as would someone intent on obtaining a conviction; and, by Mr Zuma’s identification of witnesses.”

Abuse of court

The ruling confirmed the High Court’s finding that the private prosecution was an “abuse of the process of court” that had been pursued for an ulterior purpose.

The full bench granted an order that enforced its ruling as Zuma attempted to appeal it, in a judgment that was upheld, unanimously, by the SCA and later by the Constitutional Court, News24 reported.

The 81-year-old Zuma and French arms manufacturer Thales are facing multiple charges, including fraud‚ corruption, money laundering, and racketeering, in connection with the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal procurement concluded in the late 1990s while he was vice president.

It is the state’s case that Zuma was kept on a corrupt retainer by his former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, who then used his political clout to further his own business interests.

ALSO READ: Court throws out Zuma’s private prosecution, rules it’s part of ‘Stalingrad strategy’