It is d-day for former president Jacob Zuma to confirm whether he will withdraw his private prosecution of his successor and newly elected African National Congress (ANC) leader Cyril Ramaphosa.
Private prosecution of Ramaphosa
In a bold move last week, Zuma instituted a private prosecution summons against Ramaphosa in a bid to have the National Prosecuting Authority‘s (NPA) lead prosecutor, Advocate Billy Downer, removed from the arms deal corruption trial.
Zuma accused Ramaphosa “for being an accessory after the fact in the crimes committed by among others Downer namely for breaching the provisions of the NPA Act”.
Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan are also the subject of private prosecution proceedings instituted by the former president who claimed Downer leaked his confidential medical records to Maughan.
Inaccuracies in summons
However, the state attorney in a letter hit back at Zuma identifying various inaccuracies in the summons.
The state attorney said Zuma’s “purported summons” served on Ramaphosa’s private residence was invalid and did not include a nolle prosequi certificate issued by the NPA.
It said Zuma’s private prosecution amounted to an abuse of court processes and a violation of the integrity of the country’s constitutional institutions.
The letter said the summons for Ramaphosa to appear in court on 19 January was “an act that in law may and must be ignored” by the president.
The state attorney said the claims made by Zuma against Ramaphosa were “clearly premised on an alleged failure by the Office of the State President” and not Ramaphosa as an individual.
It added that that Zuma’s summons appeared to halt Ramaphosa’s candidature for the ANC’s presidency as he sought re-election for a second term at the governing party’s conference in Nasrec.
ALSO READ: Zuma’s ‘criminal charges’ against Ramaphosa slammed for being ‘unfounded and spurious’
Zuma tenacious
Meanwhile, Zuma has no inclination of withdrawing his private prosecution.
In a tweet, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said Ramaphosa will appear in court on 19 January 2023.
“Just for avoidance of any confusion, the summons for President Ramaphosa to appear in Court on the 19th January 2023 for criminal charges will not be withdrawn.”
“The 21 December 2022 extension was merely to address frivolous side issues like where-else to serve summons etc,” it said.
ALSO READ: ‘Political life won’t be better under Ramaphosa now that he survived’ – Habib
