UPDATE: Court dismisses Zuma’s leave to appeal in Ramaphosa’s private prosecution

Former President Jacob Zuma has suffered a second court loss in less than 24 hours after his leave to appeal application in his private prosecution of President Cyril Ramaphosa was dismissed.

The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg delivered its ruling on Tuesday, dismissing Zuma’s application with costs in a unanimous judgment.

Zuma had approached the court seeking to overturn a previous judgment, which ruled that the former president may not prosecute Ramaphosa.

The former president initiated private prosecutions against Ramaphosa on the eve of the African National Congress’ (ANC) national elective conference on 15 December last year.

ALSO READ: Zuma appeal in Downer, Maughan private prosecution case fails

Zuma accused Ramaphosa of being an “accessory after the fact” in relation to another private prosecution he was pursuing against prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for an alleged breach of the National Prosecuting Authority Act.

He also accused Downer, who is the lead prosecutor in his arms deal corruption trial, of allegedly leaking his confidential medical information to Maughan in August 2021.

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

Private prosecution

However, the court in July set aside Zuma’s private prosecution of Ramaphosa.

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

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”.

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, did not apply to Ramaphosa.

Downer and Maughan case

Meanwhile, Zuma was dealt a blow on 11 September 2023 after the application for leave to appeal the dismissal of his private prosecution against Downer and Maughan failed.

Zuma appeared in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to appeal the court’s order which declared the setting aside of his private prosecution against Downer and Maughan as immediately enforceable.

In delivering the judgment, Judge Gregory Kruger said Zuma’s appeal had no merits.

Kruger said the court stood by its original reasons and conclusions and did not believe another court would come to a different conclusion.

“We arrived at the conclusion that there are no merits in any of the arguments raised by the applicant (Zuma),” Judge Kruger said.

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