The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was granted leave on Monday to appeal against an earlier ruling by the Johannesburg High Court that documents confiscated in a raid on one of former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s attorneys had to be returned.
Judge Ismail Hussain said the matter enjoys substantial public interest and should receive the interests of a higher court.
He based his earlier finding on the manner in which search warrants for the house and offices of Julekha Mahomed had been obtained and executed.
He said it will be better if the Supreme Court of Appeal, which has more time and numbers, gives additional direction on the interpretation and application of the NPA Act.
The documents were taken during a countrywide raid on Zuma’s properties and those of his lawyers by the Scorpions in August.
Hussain subsequently ruled that two search warrants for the office and home of Mahomed were obtained and executed unlawfully, and that attorney-client privilege was violated by the Scorpions’ conduct.
Hussain’s ruling set aside the warrants, and ordered the Scorpions to return all documents, files and objects seized from her premises.
President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma as South Africa’s deputy president in July after he was found by the Durban High Court to have had a generally corrupt relationship with his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik.
Zuma was then charged on two counts of corruption. — Sapa