By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former President Jacob Zuma has suffered his eighth legal defeat in his ongoing attempt to privately prosecute State prosecutor advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.
On Monday, the Constitutional Court dismissed his application for leave to appeal and ordered him to pay costs.
Zuma had sought to compel the Constitutional Court to hear his challenge against a previous ruling that halted his private prosecution efforts.
“The court has concluded that the application for leave to appeal does not engage its jurisdiction, “the apex court stated in a two-page order.
The latest ruling marks yet another setback in his protracted legal battle.
Zuma had accused Downer of breaching the National Prosecuting Authority Act. He claimed that Downer had leaked confidential medical information in the form of a letter from a military doctor, filed by lawyers for the former president in that trial in August 2021, to Maughan.
The letter cryptically stated that Zuma needed treatment for an undisclosed ailment. His lawyers did not claim confidentiality when they submitted it to court, hence it became part of the public record. It was moreover not Downer but counsel who gave the document to Maughan and other media, as per accepted practice.
In setting aside the summons Zuma had served on Downer and Maughan, the high court held that the former president had come to court “with unclean hands”.
It was clear that the private prosecution was initiated as a “precursor” to an eventual application for the removal of the prosecutor who has pursued the arms deal charges for nearly two decades.
In December last year, the supreme court of appeal (SCA) dismissed Zuma’s application for leave to appeal the high court ruling. In January, he brought an application to the president of the SCA for that decision to be referred back for reconsideration but this too was dismissed.
Zuma then asked the constitutional court to overturn that decision by SCA president Mahube Molemela and replace it with an order that the appellate court grant him leave to appeal.
He filed the application at the 11th hour before the window to approach the apex court closed.
The Pietermaritzburg high court in March dismissed Zuma’s application to have Downer removed as the prosecutor in the arms deal case. Judge Nkosinathi Chili said he was not persuaded by Zuma’s argument that allowing Downer to lead the prosecution would violate his fair trial rights.