By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former president Jacob Zuma’s case seeking to remove State advocate Billy Downer as the lead prosecutor in his arms-deal corruption trial was pulled from the roll.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court was set to hear arguments on Tuesday in a new application by Zuma to have Downer removed from the corruption case.
Zuma accuses Downer of being biased against him and compromises his right to a fair trial.
Lusanda Ntuli, the deputy director of communications for the office of the Chief Justice, said a virtual case management meeting will be held instead.
Ntuli said: “The matter J G Zuma v the State, which was set down to be heard from 15 to 16 August 2023 at the Kwazulu-Natal Division of the High Court, Pietermaritzburg, will no longer sit as scheduled.”
“Judge Thoba Poyo-Diwati, will conduct a virtual case management meeting with all parties involved on the dates previously scheduled for the sitting.”
It comes after the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled in favour of Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan, enforcing its judgment on Zuma’s private prosecution.
The high court had earlier declared Zuma’s private prosecution unlawful.
Zuma accused Downer of leaking his confidential medical information to Maughan in August 2021.
His Foundation on Monday, said it did not receive any reasons for the change of plans.
Zuma is facing multiple counts of corruption, as well as racketeering, fraud, tax evasion and money laundering, with some of the charges relating to bribes he is alleged to have taken from French arms manufacturing company Thales to provide political protection for an arms deal worth more than $1 billion signed by the South African government in 1999.
Thales, which was then known as Thomson-CSF, is a co-defendant in the corruption trial.
The charges relate to a time when Zuma was a politician on the rise and later a deputy president of South Africa, but before he became president in 2009. He was forced to resign as president in 2018 because of corruption allegations.
Some of the alleged wrongdoing dates back as far as the mid-1990s, yet Zuma only went on trial two years ago after the charges were dropped and reinstated multiple times amid political interference.
Despite the trial officially starting in May 2021, no testimony has yet been heard because of a series of applications made by Zuma to get the initial judge to recuse himself and to remove Downer.