Zuma indicates appeal against latest corruption case ruling
The Jacob Zuma Foundation says it has every intention to lodge an appeal against Wednesday morning’s ruling in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
Judge Piet Koen dismissed the former president’s application for leave to appeal an earlier decision to keep state prosecutor Billy Downer on his corruption case.
Koen delivered judgment on Wednesday morning.
Downer is the lead prosecutor in the trial of Zuma on charges of fraud, racketeering, money laundering and corruption stemming from the 1999 arms deal.
The former president claims that Downer and the entire National Prosecuting Agency (NPA) cannot prosecute him due to bias and sharing information about his health with the media.
But Koen ruled that Downer would remain on Zuma’s case.
The foundation’s spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi vowed that the former president will take the matter forward.
“We are definitely not surprised because we have gotten used to Zuma laws in this country. What this judge has done, has set a stage where a fair trial is impossible. We are now in a situation where a criminal suspect is going to be prosecuting president Zuma.
“It cannot be, so as the foundation, we are going to advise president Zuma to take the next step to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal. You don’t have to be a lawyer to see this injustice.”
Manyi said they don’t believe Judge Koen was fair in his ruling.
“What we have heard here is another Zondo arrangement, where a person wants to insist on his own original interpretation of the issues, the judge read out what he has said before in his case and he has now made a case that.
“What I have said before is still relevant today, right now what we are seeing is an authoritarian approach, we are being bullied by the courts in this country and we are not going to allow it.”
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