Zuma no flight risk, Mpofu tells court in bid to halt arrest

The court heard an application by Zuma on Tuesday to halt his arrest

Zuma wants the high court to stay his pending arrest in the run-up to his application to the Constitutional Court to rescind its recent judgment against him.

The apex court sentenced Zuma to 15 months in prison for contempt.

Zuma was supposed to hand himself over to the Westville prison in Durban on Sunday to start serving his sentence but failed to do so on the basis that he was approaching this court to request a stay of the arrest.

"We are dealing with the possible arrest of a 79-year-old person whose health condition is uncontestably precarious, to say the least, who's not a flight risk, who when the rescission application is all finished, if he is unsuccessful will duly face the consequences of that lack of success," Zuma’s lawyer, Advocate Dali Mpofu, told the court.

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"Considering all those circumstances, why on earth would any say that there is a harm that the respondents will suffer if this order is suspended?"

Mpofu argued that the high court has jurisdiction over an order of the Constitutional Court, on the basis of Section 172 (b) and Section 173 of the constitution. 

He said the constitution gives the high court powers to provide relief on this matter as it is pending another matter. 

But Judge Bhekisasa Mnguni wanted to know why Zuma did not approach the Constitutional Court itself to seek this relief.

Mpofu said the prospects of the court hearing this application were slim and his client cannot afford to pay for unnecessary litigation. 

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, representing the commission of inquiry into state capture, argued that by entertaining this application, the high court would be helping Zuma break the law.

"We are dealing with a repetitive, recalcitrant lawbreaker in the form of Mr Zuma, he has now come to ask you to assist him in breaking the law further, you should reject that,” he said.

“We also have a strange scenario where your lordship is asked to suspend the order of a superior court, again you should reject that. We have another situation where Mr Zuma has continued his law-breaking attitude, the lordship should pay no heed to that.”

Ngcukaitobi said Section 173 of the constitution does not give the high court inherent jurisdiction over a Constitutional Court ruling but is more about courts having inherent power over their own proceedings.