Former South Africa president Jacob Zuma.
The Pietermaritzburg high court on Thursday adjourned the private prosecution Jacob Zuma has launched against state prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for hearing in early August.
The court will in March hear separate applications by Downer, the prosecutor in the former president’s arms deal fraud and corruption trial, and Maughan to have the charges brought by Zuma set aside.
The corruption trial was on Monday postponed to 17 April after Judge Piet Koen recused himself from the case for reasons relating to Zuma’s tireless legal quest to have Downer removed as the prosecutor in the matter.
Zuma’s counsel confirmed on Monday that they intended to bring an application for his removal on the basis that he cannot prosecute an accused while he himself is implicated in a crime by said accused on charges relating to his conduct in the case.
Zuma has charged Downer and Maughan with contravening the National Prosecuting Authority(NPA) Act.
He alleges that Downer breached section 41 of the law by disclosing documents in possession of the authority without the permission of the national director of public prosecutions.
At issue is a copy of an affidavit filed by Downer in response to an application from Zuma for a postponement in his corruption trial. Zuma had attached a letter from a military doctor to his own affidavit, stating that the former president needed urgent treatment for an undisclosed ailment.
It was also attached to Downer’s affidavit. Maughan was given copies of both affidavits by counsel for the NPA. Both affidavits, plus the medical note motivating for a postponement, became part of the public court record before she published an article on News24 on the application for a postponement.
But Zuma is alleging that his medical information was leaked, despite the fact that he failed to claim confidentiality when he filed the letter to the court.
Downer and Maughan have denied any breach and described the private prosecution as a flagrant abuse of process.
In 2021, Zuma entered a special plea in terms of section 106(1)(h) of the Criminal Procedure Act arguing that Downer lacked title to prosecute him on fraud and corruption charges because he was not sufficiently impartial. Koen dismissed the plea and denied Zuma leave to appeal.
The supreme court of appeal and constitutional court followed suit. With all avenues of appeal having been exhausted, the trial cannow resume.
But Koen said the strong views he had expressed on the merits of Zuma’s objections to Downer leading the prosecution may be construed as creating a reasonable apprehension of bias in the context of the “unique and novel” situation created by the private prosecution.
“The implications and the impact thereof need to be considered very carefully, free from any views previously expressed on matters which reasonably affect those issues.”
Zuma faces 12 counts of fraud, one of racketeering, two of corruption and one of money laundering for allegedly taking bribes, through his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, from Thales, the French aerospace and defence multinational.
In December, on the eve of the ANC’s national conference, he served summons on President Cyril Ramaphosa in a bid to charge him as an accessory after the fact in the alleged violation of the NPA Act.
Last month the Johannesburg high court granted Ramaphosa an interdict to halt the process pending the hearing of his legal challenge to the validity of the summons.
The president has termed Zuma’s attempt to charge him a political stunt.