Zuma v Ramaphosa judgment reserved

• Author: NTOMBI NKOSI and KAILENE PILLAY
• Published date: 19 May 2023
• Publication title: Star, The (Johannesburg, South Africa)

The matter continued sitting yesterday, before a full bench of judges Selby Baqwa, Lebogang Modiba and Mohammed Ismail. It started on Wednesday

Ramaphosa is seeking urgent relief from the court after Zuma charged him with being an accessory after the fact.

Zuma accused Ramaphosa of not acting on a complaint he lodged against State advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan last year, and therefore sought private prosecution against the president on charges of being an accessory after the fact, relating to crimes in that case.

Ramaphosa maintained that Zuma had ulterior motives by issuing him with summons on the eve of the ANC’s 55th national conference in December last year.

The argument by the Blackhouse Kollective Foundation (friends of the court) said the National Prosecuting Authority had been shielding Ramaphosa from accountability.

Zuma’s legal team argued that the KwaZulu-Natal director of public prosecutions (DPP) delayed issuing the documents.

Advocate Elaine Zungu issued two nolle prosequi certificates last year. A nolle prosequi certificate is issued by the NPA if it declines to prosecute a case. A private individual can then go on to prosecute the case independently, and at their own cost.

At the time the certificates were issued, Zuma had told the NPA he planned to prosecute Downer, but Ramaphosa’s name was not expressly mentioned in his initial complaint. Although the NPA said it would not debate the merits of the case, it said that Zungu “did not apply her mind” to whether Ramaphosa could be prosecuted by the NPA, and that Ramaphosa “was at no point a suspect”.

Zuma’s lawyer, Dali Mpofu, labelled Zungu a liar. Judge Modiba told Mpofu to “tone down” his language. Those sitting in the public gallery who were clapping in support of Mpofu’s arguments were also warned by the judges that they would be removed from the court if they did not maintain court decorum.

Ramaphosa’s lawyer, Ngwako Maenetje SC, asked where the unlawfulness was when the president acts consistently with the...