Ramphosa gives Zuma Monday deadline to withdraw his abusive private prosecution

President Cyril Ramaphosa gave his predecessor Jacob Zuma until Monday to withdraw his “abusive” private prosecution against him, filing which the unprecedented and politically explosive situation could arise where a sitting president faces off in court with a former president.

This after the Jacob Zuma Foundation- on the eve of the ANC’s 55^th nation al elective conference- released a statement on Thursday stating that the former president had instituted private prosecution of Ramaphosa in Zuma’s bid to have that National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPS) leading prosecutor Advocate Billy Downer removed from the arms deal corruption trial.

The foundation released a statement declaring that Zuma had instituted private prosecution of Ramaphosa for “being an accessory after the fact in the crimes committed by among other Advocate Billy Downer namely, breaching the provisions of the NPA Act”.

It added that Zuma had set in motion the private prosecution in the Johannesburg High Court and that Ramaphosa was expected to appear in court on 19 January 2023.

The presidency rejected Zuma’s private prosecution as an abuse of legal processes, saying in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act, a private prosecution could only be instituted after Zuma had obtained a certificate of non-prosecution from the NPA.

Ramaphosa believes Zuma made this move on the eve of the ANC’s national elective conference to scupper Ramaphosa’s chance of retaining the party’s presidency, according to a letter the State Attorneys sent to Zuma’s lawyers on Ramaphosa’s behalf.

“The purported summons were served on the President a day before the 55^th National Conference of the African National Congress was due to commence. It is common knowledge that the President will stand for re-election as Presidential candidate. It appears that the purported summons were served to halt this candidature. This is an abuse of process,” the later states.

“We thus call on your client to withdraw the invalid summons on the basis that each party pays their own costs. Should your client not do so by 19 December 2022 we reserve the right to take such further steps as may be required and shall seek punitive costs against your client for the wasteful costs arising therefrom.”

Source: News24, Briefly, the Citizen, Eyewitness News, image from Twitter: @Nkullu07