‘Ramaphosa’s political career last thing on Zuma’s mind’ – Court told

The Johannesburg High Court has heard that former president Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution of President Cyril Ramaphosa aimed to thwart his candidacy for the African National Congress (ANC) presidency.

The court on Wednesday reserved its judgment on Zuma’s application for leave to appeal a judgment which set aside Zuma’s private prosecution of Ramaphosa.

During court proceedings, Zuma’s legal team argued that Ramaphosa’s political career was “the last thing on his mind” when he instituted the private prosecution and that the timing was coincidental, according to EWN.

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Private prosecution

However, Ramaphosa’s lawyer, advocate Ngwako Maenetje, said this was not the case.

“The reasoning of the court is quite impeccable that he [Zuma] waited so long until the last minute. But he provided no explanation why he couldn’t wait just for another couple of days for January to come and he could issue the summons.”

The former president initiated private prosecutions against Ramaphosa on the eve of the ANC‘s national elective conference on 15 December last year.

Zuma accused Ramaphosa of being an “accessory after the fact” in a criminal offence involving State Advocate Billy Downer.

Zuma accused Downer – the lead prosecutor in his arms deal corruption trial – of violating the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act by allegedly leaking his confidential medical information to journalist Karyn Maughan in August 2021.

Zuma based his attempt to prosecute Ramaphosa on an accusation that the president failed to act after he complained that Downer had misbehaved.

Abuse of court process

However, The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg in July 2023 set aside Zuma’s private prosecution of Ramaphosa, with the judges declaring the application unlawful and unconstitutional.

In their ruling, judges Mahomed Ismail, Selby Baqwa and Lebogang Modiba said Zuma’s private prosecution of the president was unlawful.

The judges said Zuma brought the private prosecution against Ramaphosa “for an ulterior purpose in what amounts to an abuse of this court’s process”.

“Therefore, he lacks a peculiar and substantial interest in the issue of the private prosecution instituted against Mr Ramaphosa. The charges would not lead to a conviction as they are grounded on conduct that does not constitute a criminal offence. Therefore, the private prosecution constitutes an abuse of process.”

The court also found the nolle prosequi certificates, upon which the prosecution was based, were vague, and one of them, initially issued in respect of Downer, does not apply to Ramaphosa.

The matter has been postponed to September for a ruling.

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