By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former President Jacob Zuma has suffered another blow in less than 24 hours after his leave to appeal application in his private prosecution of President Cyril Ramaphosa was dismissed. – with costs.
In a brief virtual sitting that was not attended by Zuma’s counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, Gauteng High Court Judge Lebogang Modiba said the Bench’s ruling would be uploaded later today.
“I should mention, it’s a unanimous judgment of this court,” she said.
The former president initiated private prosecutions against Ramaphosa on the eve of the African National Congress (ANC) national elective conference on 15 December last year.
Zuma accused Ramaphosa of being an “accessory after the fact” in relation to another private prosecution he was pursuing against prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for an alleged breach of the National Prosecuting Authority Act.
He also accused Downer, who is the lead prosecutor in his arms deal corruption trial, of allegedly leaking his confidential medical information to Maughan in August 2021.
The former president based his attempt to prosecute Ramaphosa on an accusation that the president failed to act after he complained that Downer had misbehaved.
Ramaphosa had successfully challenged Zuma’s attempt to launch a private prosecution against him. The full Bench agreed with the president’s assertion that the private prosecution was an “abuse” launched for an “ulterior purpose”.
The KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Monday dismissed Zuma’s attempt to appeal the invalidation of his private prosecution against Downer and Maughan. It found the appeal bid did not have reasonable prospects of success.
The Presidency has welcomed the dismissal Zuma’s leave to appeal the setting aside of his private prosecution of Ramaphosa.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said: “As we have always maintained from the onset, the private prosecution had no basis in law and constituted an abuse of private prosecution provisions.”