South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has noted and welcomed the judgement by the Johannesburg High Court setting aside private prosecution instituted by former President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday.
According to the statement released by the South African Presidency, Vincent Magwenya, Spokesman to the President
The President who has always maintained that Mr Zuma’s private prosecution constituted an abuse of court processes and that it was unlawful and unconstitutional.
The Court dismissed Zuma’s stated reason for serving summons on his successor on the eve of the ANC’s elective conference in December, namely that he needed to get the ball rolling before the holiday season, as “far-fetched”.
“Having regard to the above, this court finds that Mr Zuma instituted the private prosecution of Mr Ramaphosa for an ulterior motive.”
It then follows, it said, that he lacked a peculiar and substantial interest in the issue of the private prosecution instituted against the president.
Zuma purported to charge Ramaphosa as an accessory to the alleged leaking of medical information by Billy Downer, the state prosecutor in his arms deal corruption trial, to the media.
His complaint against the President stemmed from the latter’s alleged failure to hold an inquiry into Downer’s conduct, thereby making himself guilty as an accessory after the fact, alternatively defeating the ends of justice.
Ramaphosa countered that he referred the complaint to Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and advised him to refer the matter to the Legal Practice Council, noting that he had neither the power nor any intention to interfere with the independence of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
The court held that however “odd” it may be that more than a year after Ramaphosa did so in August 2021, one does not know where that referral led, this does not infer the crime alleged by Zuma.
“Be that as it may, on the present facts, whatever inaction President may be criticised of in this regard does not amount to associating himself with their alleged criminal conduct or assisting Mr Downer SC and other NPA members to evade justice.”
It noted that Zuma also never bothered to inquire about progress made in investigating his complaint to the president.
“At no point between 21 August 2021 when he requested the president to institute an inquiry and the issuing of summons on 15 December 2022, did Mr Zuma communicate further with the president. He never enquired on the progress made by the minister”.
