Former President Jacob Zuma will be back in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg later on Monday morning.
This time Zuma will apply for leave to appeal after losing in his bid to have the lead prosecutor in his arms deal case Billy Downer recuse himself. Zuma claims the prosecutors are biased and conspiring against him.
Judge Piet Koen dismissed Zuma’s plea, in which he asked for the recusal of advocate Downer in October last year, and set April the 11th as the trial date. Zuma filed the plea under a Section of the Criminal Procedure Act.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation’s spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi says Monday’s application will be in three parts.
“One doesn’t need to be a lawyer to understand that you cannot get a fair trial if the prosecutor is compromised so President Zuma is asking leave to appeal the judgment of Judge Koen which has let Downer off the hook. Secondly President Zuma will be moving a separate application for the court to receive new evidence that President laid new charges against Downer at the Pietermaritzburg Police station. Thirdly we want to object to the growing tendency that you change normal rules and procedures when dealing with President Zuma. We are tired with these Zuma laws. It’s the very first that in an appeal case that there are some filing of affidavits to reply almost like arguing the case on paper,” says Manyi.
Former President Jacob Zuma expected in Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday:
Zuma is accused of receiving an annual bribe of R500 000 from French arms company Thales in exchange for using his political position to stop investigations into the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal of the 1990s.
The bribe was allegedly facilitated by Zuma’s convicted former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik.
Thales pleaded not guilty to racketeering and money laundering charges.
A timeline of the arms deal case:
