By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A full bench of the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg will hear President Cyril Ramaphosa’s application for an interdict against his predecessor’s private prosecution on Thursday.
Jacob Zuma instituted a private prosecution against Ramaphosa on the eve of the African National Congress (ANC) national elective conference, accusing the president of being an “accessory after the fact” in a criminal offence alleged against Advocate Billy Downer, who is accused of improperly sharing information in terms of the NPA Act.
Adv Downer is prosecuting Zuma on behalf of the State for arms deal-related corruption. Ramaphosa argues that Zuma’s prosecution is being done with an ulterior motive as he was served with the summons the day before the ANC’s national elective conference started.
Zuma has denied this.
In his answering affidavit opposing Ramaphosa’s urgent application, Zuma said the president’s affidavit was “defective, extremely abusive, frivolous and vexatious”.
“It will be amply demonstrated that the application is neither urgent nor deserving to this Court’s attention. It represents an extreme case of the egregious abuse of this Court’s process and is designed to shield the Applicant from accountability for his alleged criminal conduct, which includes a failure to act when he had a legal duty to do so. It is by now trite that crimes are committed either by commission or by omission,” said Zuma in his affidavit.
He said the “real essence” of Ramaphosa’s application was to seek “unprecedented, special and preferential treatment” as a criminally charged and accused person.