Former president Jacob Zuma has to personally pay for costs related to his fraud, and corruption case.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has just handed down judgment on the application by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to set aside an earlier agreement authorising state funding for Zuma’s defence in criminal cases.
The two opposition parties have asked the court to order the state attorney to determine how much money was paid for his defence and then to recover it from the former president.
It’s estimated that the State has so far paid between R15 million and R32 million for his legal costs.
Zuma faces 16 charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering stemming from 783 alleged payments to him in relation to the arms deal when he was KwaZulu-Natal MEC of Economic Affairs and Tourism in the 1990s.
The charges were dropped in 2009 and reinstated earlier this year.
