STAFF REPORTER
THE South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has granted President Cyril Ramaphosa an urgent interdict against private prosecution by former President Jacob Zuma.
The full bench of the high court delivered its judgment after it heard heads of arguments last week from Ramaphosa and Zuma’s legal teams in the president’s bid to block the summons for him to appear in court on Thursday in private prosecution proceedings instituted by his predecessor.
Delivering his judgment, Deputy Judge-President Roland Sutherland said Ramaphosa’s application was found to be urgent by the high court.
“Pending the final determination of part B [of the application] the first respondent [Zuma] is interdicted from taking any further steps to give effect to the nolle prosequi certificate of 21 November 2022 and 6 June 2022, and the summons issued by the registrar on 15 and 21 December 2022 or to pursue the private prosecution under case number 59772 of 2022 against the applicant in any way,” Sutherland said.
Ramaphosa approached the high court on an urgent basis after Zuma, on 15 December 2022, charged him with being an “accessory after the fact” in relation to charges Zuma is pursuing against senior state prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for allegedly leaking his confidential medical information on 9 August 2021.Zuma accused Ramaphosa of committing a criminal offence by not acting against Downer and Maughan when he lodged a complaint with his office on 19 August 2021.
However, Ramaphosa argued that he did not commit any crime because he wrote to Zuma’s legal team on 25 August 2021, informing them that the matter had been referred to Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, and that he had asked him to refer the complaint to the Legal Practice Council.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa has welcomed the decision handed down by the South Gauteng High Court Division to interdict the private prosecution brought against him by Zuma from proceeding until the application to set aside the private prosecution is heard.
“The court affirmed all of the President’s key contentions, namely on jurisdiction of the court to hear the interdict application, the urgency of the matter against a court appearance date based on a prima facie unlawful nolle prosequi. The court further found in the President’s favour on the violation of rights to personal freedom based on a prima facie defective summons,” said the president’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.
“The judgement confirms the position of the President that the private prosecution is motivated by the ulterior purpose based on spurious and unfounded charges, constitutes an abuse of private prosecution provisions and demonstrates flagrant disregard for the law.”
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