DA welcomes 'unusual' SCA ruling on Zuma charges

The party was confident the Supreme Court of Appeal would deny Zuma leave to appeal once it had heard oral arguments, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said in a statement.

“It would be in the interests of justice for President Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority to drop their spurious appeals, accept the judgment of the High Court, and face the corruption charges that he has tried to avoid for so long.”

In an order handed down on Tuesday, October 11, the SCA said Zuma’s lawyers would have to argue why he should be granted leave to appeal against the High Court’s ruling.

"The application for leave to appeal is referred for oral argument in terms of 17(2) of the Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013. The parties must be prepared, if called upon to do so, to address the court on the merits," the court said.

Appeal

Zuma’s lawyers have one month to file additional copies of the application for leave to appeal, and three months to file the record of the High Court’s proceedings.

The Constitutional Court said in an order dated September 28, that it would not hear the NPA’s appeal against the High Court ruling at present. This was because of the pending SCA matter.

NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku said on Friday that the Constitutional Court’s order did not reflect the merits of the appeal.

"It is clear that the Constitutional Court was mindful of the pending petition to the president of the Supreme Court of Appeal," he said in a statement.

On April 29, a full bench of the High Court in Pretoria overturned the NPA’s decision to drop 783 corruption charges against Zuma. It ordered that the charges be reinstated. In June, the high court denied the NPA leave to appeal.

On April 6 2009, then-NPA head Mokotedi said transcripts of telephone conversations between then-Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy and former NPA boss Bulelani Ngcuka showed political interference in the decision to charge Zuma.

The charges were withdrawn in the High Court in Durban on April 7 2009.

News 24