The Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane has described Thursday’s judgment – which orders former president Jacob Zuma to personally pay for costs related to his fraud and corruption case – as a win for South Africa.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has upheld the application by the DA and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to set aside an earlier agreement signed by the presidency, authorising state funding for Zuma’s defence in criminal cases.
Zuma faces 16 charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering stemming from 783 alleged payments to him in relation to the 1990s arms deal.
Maimane says no taxpayer should finance politicians’ criminal litigation.
“It’s a sweeping judgement for the people of SA. The DA is fighting that no taxpayer must finance criminal litigation and now we have come to a point where we are saying we are cutting off the ATM.”
“If anyone wants to litigate for corruption, they must do so themselves. It goes for those who are involved in state capture and all of those who have been looting the peoples’ money and now they want the people to pay. Today is a victory for the people of SA,” adds Maimane.
