By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday has served former president Jacob Zuma with legal papers, saying he must withdraw his private prosecution against him.
Ramaphosa believes Zuma made this move on the eve of the ANC’s national elective conference to scupper his chances of retaining the party’s presidency, according to a letter the State Attorneys sent to Zuma’s lawyers on Ramaphosa’s behalf.
“The purported summons were served on the President a day before the 55th National Conference of the African National Congress was due to commence. It is common knowledge that the President will stand for re-election as Presidential candidate. It appears that the purported summons were served to halt this candidature. This is an abuse of process,” the letter states.
“The question is whether the private prosecution was instituted or conducted for some collateral and improper purpose, rather than with the objective of having criminal justice done to an offender,” It reads.
The letter also stated that the summons should not have been served on the president as a private individual, but rather to the Office of the Presidency.
On Thursday evening, minutes after Ramaphosa delivered an address to business people at the ANC’s gala dinner, the JG Zuma Foundation announced that its patron, Zuma, had instituted a private prosecution against Ramaphosa.
Zuma accused Ramaphosa of “being [an] accessory after the fact to crimes committed by among others Adv Downer” in alleged breaches of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act.
Advocate Billy Downer is prosecuting Zuma on behalf of the State for arms deal-related corruption.
A summary of essential facts annexed to Zuma’s summons and indictment said the NPA had issued a new nolle prosequi certificate in Downer and Karyn Maughan’s case in November which declined to “prosecute any person in connection with this matter”, paving the way for a private prosecution of Ramaphosa. However, it is not attached to the indictment.
The indictment sets out the detail of the charge. It says in August Zuma’s lawyers had written to Ramaphosa about Downer and Maughan’s conduct, demanding he “take all the necessary steps to ensure the institution of an urgent investigation”.
The prosecutions of Downer and Maughan are for an alleged breach of the NPA Act which requires prosecutors to obtain written permission from the National Director of Public Prosecutions before they disclose the content of documents in their possession.
Zuma alleges the two are in criminal breach of this injunction because the NPA’s counsel gave Maughan a document that talked about Zuma’s medical condition.The document had been electronically filed and was later disclosed in open court, attached by Zuma to his court papers.
Ramaphosa has been added to the list of accused.
Meanwhile the ANC’s Electoral committee has dismissed Zuma’s bid to privately prosecute Ramaphosa.