The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday granted the state leave to appeal against the voiding of the search-and-seizure raids by the Scorpions on Jacob Zuma’s properties and that of his attorney, Michael Hulley.
The application for leave to appeal was not opposed by Zuma’s legal team.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the fact that the appeal had been unopposed had been ”very helpful”.
”It will bring us closer to a resolution [of the search-and-seizure raids],” he said.
The Scorpions in August 2005 launched search-and-seizure raids against Zuma and Hulley.
In February this year, Judge Noel Hurt of the Durban High Court declared the search warrants unlawful and ordered the state to return documents, computer discs and other items seized during the raids on Hulley’s offices and Zuma’s home.
Julekha Mahomed, Zuma’s former attorney, also successfully challenged raids against her at the Johannesburg High Court.
The NPA appealed and that case is also before the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Hulley said: ”We haven’t opposed the application from a practical point.”
He pointed out that the warrants issued in the Mahomed case were similar to those issued for the raids on him and Zuma, and therefore made ”sense” to be heard in the appeals court in Bloemfontein.
When Judge Herbert Msimang dismissed the case against Zuma on September 20, he said the state should have resolved the challenges on the search-and-seizure raids before bringing the matter to the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
Thint, the French arms-manufacturing company that was Zuma’s co-accused, was not successful in challenging the raids against it and its CEO, Pierre Moynot. — Sapa