By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Friday dismissed an application by former president Jacob Zuma to halt the implementation of a high court order that prohibited him from pursuing his private prosecution of state prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.
Zuma was appealing the ruling by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg in August after it declined to suspend its previous ruling on 7 June.
The court at the time declared the former president’s private prosecution was unlawful and set aside the matter, pending the final determination of Zuma’s application for leave to appeal.
In Friday’s judgment, which was supported by SCA President Mahube Molemela and three other SCA judges, Judge Nathan Ponnan dismissed Zuma’s appeal against the enforcement of the KZN High Court’s invalidation of his private prosecution.
Ponnan ruled that the private prosecution was “without any foundation in either fact (Downer did not disclose Zuma’s doctor’s report to Maughan and there was no breach of confidentiality or privacy) or law (no cognisable offence has been committed, even if all of the facts alleged by Zuma are true)”.
Ponnan further ruled the “the private prosecution is part of the ‘Stalingrad strategy’ announced by Zuma’s counsel to Hugo J over a decade and a half ago, when he said: ‘This is not like a fight between two champ fighters. This is more like Stalingrad. It’s burning house to burning house.’ It is further demonstrated by the patent lack of substance to the charges; by the fact that Zuma has clearly not pursued the prosecution as would someone intent on obtaining a conviction; and, by Zuma’s identification of witnesses.”
The ruling confirmed the High Court’s finding that the private prosecution was an “abuse of the process of court” that had been pursued for an ulterior purpose.
Ponnan said the ruling of the KZN high court should be upheld.
Ponnan also expressed the courts unhappiness over Zuma’s attacks on the judiciary
“There is nothing on record to sustain the suggestion that the presiding judges in this matter were biased or not open-minded, impartial or fair. The allegations were made with a reckless disregard for the truth. And, whilst not advanced during oral argument, they were not retracted. However, they ought not to have been made at all.”
Zuma instituted the private prosecution proceedings against the pair after he accused Downer – the lead prosecutor in his arms deal corruption trial – of leaking his confidential medical information to Maughan in August 2021.
Zuma and French arms company Thales face several charges including fraud, racketeering and money laundering linked to the multibillion-rand arms deal in 1999.