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
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