Lerato Mbhiza
The High Court in Pietermaritzburg has dismissed former President Jacob Zuma’s latest application to remove State Advocate Billy Downer from his arms deal corruption case.
The court dismissed Zuma’s application because he failed to show the court that Downer’s continued presence as his prosecutor would violate his fair trial rights
In his application, Zuma had argued Downer was biased against him, and that his right to a fair trial was at risk. However, the court said it’s not persuaded. Judge Nkosimathi Chili has scheduled Zuma’s pre-trial conference for May.
But the former President’s counsel Dali Mpofu said he will seek to appeal the dismissal of his latest bid to force the removal of prosecutor Billy Downer.
However the state makes it clear it will fight for the trial to proceed.
In a previous argument before Judge Nkosimathi Chili in October last year, the state argued that Zuma’s latest bid to force the removal of Downer was already dead in the water, because the pillars of his case “have been repeatedly and emphatically dismissed” in six different court rulings.
The Supreme Court of Appeal previously dismissed Zuma’s attempt to privately prosecute Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for alleged breaches of the NPA Act by leaking his confidential medical information to Maughan in August 2021.
However, Downer and Maughan challenged the private prosecution on the basis that Zuma’s medical information was publicly available in court documents and did not include confidential details.
The SCA’s Judge Nathan Ponnan dismissed Zuma’s appeal against the enforcement of the KZN High Court’s invalidation of his private prosecution and ruled that the private prosecution was without any foundation in either fact or law, as Downer did not disclose Zuma’s doctor’s report to Maughan and there was no breach of confidentiality or privacy nor was there any cognizable offence that has been committed, even if all of the facts alleged by Zuma are factual.
The ruling confirmed the High Court’s finding that the private prosecution was an “abuse of the process of court” that had been pursued for an ulterior purpose.
The full bench granted an order that enforced its ruling as Zuma attempted to appeal it, in a judgment that was upheld, unanimously, by the SCA and later by the Constitutional Court.
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