Deputy President Jacob Zuma is merely deepening the crisis surrounding himself by taking the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) to court, United Democratic Movement (UDM) Leader Bantu Holomisa said on Wednesday.
Zuma would do well to use the influence of his office to ask the French government to ensure arms company Thales’ directors, who were suspected of corruption, co-operated with the Scorpions, ”instead of engaging in fishing expeditions in the courts”, he said.
The French government is a shareholder of Thales — now Thompson CSF — which is involved in South Africa’s multi-billion rand arms deal.
Zuma’s counsel brought an urgent application before Judge President Bernard Ngoepe in the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday in an effort to get a copy of an encrypted French fax pertaining to the bribery allegations against him.
The NDPP opposed the application, asking for a postponement so it could file responding papers.
Ngoepe granted this and provisionally set the matter down for a hearing on September 15.
Holomisa said in a statement on Wednesday that Zuma should stop selectively asking for information.
”It is strange that a person who has proclaimed his eagerness to have his day in court did not sue to force the Scorpions to charge him, but rather seems intent on gaining access to incriminatory evidence.”
This latest move could easily be construed as an attempt to derail or delay the current case against his financial advisor, and businessman, Schabir Shaik.
”Mr Zuma is merely deepening the crisis surrounding himself. The money he is spending on these court proceedings could be used far more efficiently if he sought a legal ruling forcing the Scorpions to prosecute him, as he has been calling for,” Holomisa said. – Sapa