By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former president Jacob Zuma has lost again in his ongoing private prosecute bid against state prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.
This time the Constitutional Court unanimously refused to hear Zuma’s attempt to appeal a ruling that enforced the invalidation of his private prosecution against Downer and Maughan.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) had dismissed Zuma’s bid to appeal the invalidation of his private prosecution.
The SCA found Zuma’s leave to appeal application had “no reasonable prospect of success in an appeal and there is no other compelling reason why an appeal should be heard”.
Zuma had sought to pursue a private prosecution against the two for alleged violations of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act over the sharing of the court papers – which Downer has repeatedly been found to have not been involved in.
A full bench of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg dismissed his case as a baseless abuse of process.
Multiple court rulings have also confirmed the court papers in question did not contain Zuma’s confidential medical information, despite his claims to the contrary.
In addition, the full bench found Zuma’s private prosecution against Downer was a continuation of his so-called Stalingrad campaign to avoid ever facing trial through constant challenges to the case against him.
It granted an order that would enforce its ruling as Zuma attempted to appeal it, in a judgment that was upheld, unanimously, by the SCA.
Then Zuma attempted to appeal the SCA’s enforcement ruling in the Constitutional Court.
This is a developing story.