The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein has announced that the appeal case by former President Jacob Zuma to challenge the punitive personal cost order regarding the State of Capture report will no longer be heard on Thursday.
Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report implicated Zuma and led to the formation of the State Capture Commission.
The Appeal Court was scheduled to hear arguments as to whether Zuma was reckless to approach the court to review the remedial action contained in Madonsela’s State Capture Report.
The High Court had ordered Zuma to pay for the costs of the hearing and all legal teams. The SCA says the appeal has been postponed at the request of the parties.
Zuma had petitioned the SCA in a bid to challenge the judgment by the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, which ordered that he and French arms company, Thales, should face criminal prosecution in the alleged multimillion-rand arms deal corruption.
The SCA says Zuma had no reasonable prospects for success.
Adv. Mkhosazana Mbonani sheds more light on the charges Zuma is facing:
A group calling itself the “Radical Economic Transformation Forces” has re-pledged support for former President. The group says it will stop at nothing in supporting Zuma during his legal challenges.
According to Umkhonto WeSizwe and Military Veterans’ Association spokesperson Carl Niehaus and hundreds of other REC members, the country’s judicial system was a sham, as it was being used to settle political scores in the African National Congress (ANC).
He says the decision of the High Court in Pietermaritzburg to issue a warrant of arrest against Zuma is of great concern to all citizens of the country.
“Judge Pillay plunged our judiciary straight into the political arena and shredded any hopes of former President Zuma, who has been subjected to vicious vilification in the court of public opinion, receiving a free and fair trial.”
