Then president Jacob Zuma accompanied by then first lady Nompumelelo 'MaNtuli' Zuma in 2014. (Photo: GCIS). File
Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, the estranged wife of former president Jacob Zuma, will be suing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Hawks for “malicious prosecution” after she was accused of involvement in a plot to poison her husband, in what her lawyers said was a charge brought without any real evidence.
Though MaNtuli has been at the centre of the allegations since 2015, she has consistently denied them.
Her pending litigation will seek to force the NPA and Hawks to disclose the evidence that justified their decision to identify her as a suspect, The Sowetan reports.
Ntuli-Zuma’s lawyer Ulrich Roux told the publication that the two bodies – under the direction of former National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams, were driven by “severe political pressure” in making the allegations against her.
Now under the leadership of NDPP Shamila Batohi, the NPA made the decision not to prosecute Ntuli-Zuma in September due to an apparent total lack of evidence.
Her attorney Ulrich Roux said in April: “This matter has been hanging over my client’s head since June 2015. In four years, the SAPS and the NPA have seemingly made no progress pertaining to any further investigation being conducted herein, and whether there is merit or substance in the allegations levelled against my client.”
READ MORE: MaNtuli a troublesome wife: Zuma family
In 2017, Ntuli-Zuma also appealed to the NPA to charge her or leave her alone.
TimesLive reported at the time that MaNtuli was considering going to court, as there had been no developments in the case.
A Zuma family insider allegedly told the Sunday Times at the time that MaNtuli had done “something terrible that could put her in jail for a long time”.
However, Business Day quotes acting KwaZulu-Natal director of public prosecutions advocate Elaine Zungu now saying in a letter to the Hawks: “There is no evidence that Mr Zuma was poisoned.”
Zuma, it turns out, had never even provided a statement in the matter, so was not a complainant.
(Compiled by Daniel Friedman. Background reporting, Charles Cilliers.)
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