Zuma to appeal latest Downer ruling in graft case
Former president Jacob Zuma says he plans to apply for leave to appeal the dismissal of his application to remove the lead state prosecutor in his corruption case.
Pietermaritzburg High Court judge Nkosinathi Chili said on Wednesday that he was not persuaded that Zuma succeeded in proving that keeping Advocate Billy Downer on the case would prejudice him.
Zuma had brought the fresh application against Downer after the initial trial judge, Piet Koen, recused himself.
The 81-year-old Zuma has argued he would not receive a fair trial if Downer leads the prosecution.
He has also accused the advocate of leaking his confidential medical information to a journalist, Karyn Maughan, a claim the State denies.
After Judge Chili made his ruling on Wednesday morning, Downer asked the court to set trial dates, saying there could not be any further delay on the matter.
"We are not sitting in March 2024. For a trial that has been subject to abuse and delay for six years to start further down the line than six months from now - we just find it unacceptable. We would have preferred that this matter be postponed provisionally to various trial dates, and the court did not make such orders. So, we have always been keen to get this matter moving."
Advocate Dali Mpofu for Zuma told the court they needed time to discuss availability, as the State only discussed the matter with the legal representatives for Zuma's arms deal co-accused, the French company, Thales.
"There is the small matter of the accused person here - it is the rights of the accused in terms of our constitution, Section 35, not Mr Downer's rights, but your lordship, it gives us a halfway house where there would be a date, but that would be a date for the pre-trial."
The matter has been postponed to mid-May for a pre-trial conference.
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