The High Court in Pietermaritzburg has struck off the roll former President Jacob Zuma’s case to privately prosecute Advocate Billy Downer and journalist, Karyn Maughan.
Last year, the matter was adjourned while Zuma appealed two court orders Downer and Maughan had obtained to stop the case.
In the first one, the private prosecution was declared invalid and the second was an interdict to enforce the first order.
Zuma has lost appeals against the enforcement order in both the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.
Judge Nkosinathi Chili has ruled that his judgment is pending Zuma’s appeal in the Constitutional Court, against a court order that the private prosecution is invalid.
Chili has ordered that Downer and Maughan must again present themselves in court at a future date, should Zuma succeed with his appeal.
“The private prosecution by Mister Zuma of Mister Downer and Miss Maughan is removed from the roll. Paragraph 2: Such removal is without prejudice to the rights of Mister Zuma in terms of Section 11, subsection of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977.”
