Judgement reserved in DA’s spy tapes case
Judgement was reserved on Thursday morning in the DA's application to have the NPA's decision to drop 738 charges against President Jacob Zuma set aside.
After hearing the matter for three consecutive days, deputy judge president Aubrey Ledwaba, and two other judges in the High Court in Pretoria said judgement will be communicated to the parties soon.
The charges, including fraud and racketeering, stemmed from the country’s 1999 arms deal and the decision by then acting NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe to withdraw the case, paving the way for Zuma’s election as president the following month.
The DA went to court soon after, but the actual review has taken more than six years as a result of a lengthy case within a case to secure the release of the so-called spytapes – privately recorded tapes of phone calls Mpshe said indicated that the timing of the charges was manipulated by backers of former president Thabo Mbeki.