Zuma suffers yet another defeat in private prosecution of Downer and Maughan

Former President Jacob Zuma has suffered yet another defeat in a series of appeals after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed his latest bid to privately prosecute state advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.

SCA President Mahube Molemela dismissed Zuma’s bid in a two-page order.

Molemela found “no exceptional circumstances warranting reconsideration or variation of the decision refusing [Zuma’s] application for leave to appeal” the Kwazulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg’s invalidation of his private prosecution,” News24 reported.

Stalingrad strategy

Three full benches have now confirmed that the Pietermaritzburg High Court’s finding in June 2023 that the private prosecution of Downer and Maughan for alleged breaches of the NPA Act by leaking his confidential medical information in August 2021 was an “abuse of the process of court”, had been pursued for an ulterior purpose, and was part Zuma’s ‘Stalingrad strategy’ to avoid trial for the arms deal corruption matter.

After Zuma unsuccessfully tried to appeal the ruling in the SCA, he approached Molemela directly for his case to be reconsidered, but this bid was dismissed on Wednesday.

This is the second defeat for Zuma in a week after his bid to force the removal of his arms deal corruption prosecutor Downer was dismissed by Judge Nkosinathi Chili presiding in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Zuma’s bid to force removal of arms deal corruption prosecutor Downer dismissed

Zuma’s losing streak

Chili last week dismissed Zuma’s latest bid after finding that the former president failed to show that Downer’s continued presence as his prosecutor would violate his fair trial rights.

“Having heard submissions made by counsel, the relevant case law and most importantly the four pillars relied upon by Mr Zuma, I am not persuaded that Mr Zuma succeeded in establishing that the retention of Mr Downer as the prosecutor in this matter could prejudice his right to a fair trial [as] enshrined in section 35, subsection 3, of the Constitution.”

Chili did not provide reasons for the decision, saying he will share them in his final judgment at the end of the trial.

Zuma’s advocate, Dali Mpofu, said he had taken “detailed instructions” from the former president “to proceed with an application for leave to appeal” the ruling.

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