IN THE PRIVATE PROSECUTION MATTER BETWEEN ZUMA AND RAMAPHOSA, A JUDGMENT IS EXPECTED

President Cyril Ramaphosa has asked the courts to intervene in his private prosecution by Jacob Zuma in his case against State prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.

The Johannesburg High Court will hear the presidential confrontation between President Cyril Ramaphosa and his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, on Monday morning.

Ramaphosa has asked the courts to intervene in his private prosecution by Zuma in his case against State prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.

Zuma accuses Downer and Maughan of leaking his sensitive medical data in the weapons sale case, and he accuses the president of neglecting to take action against them.

Last week, a full bench heard the case.

“This prosecution is prima facie unlawful. Why must my client be exposed to an unlawful prosecution in the context of the CPA for private prosecution?”

This is the crux of President Ramaphosa’s counsel, Advocate Ngwako Maenetje’s case.

He informed the court that former President Jacob Zuma’s prosecution of the president was illegal because he violated sections 7 and 9 of the Criminal Procedures Act.

He argued that it was politically motivated, claiming that if the president was legally prosecuted, he would be forced to resign in accordance with African National Congress (ANC) doctrine.

However, Zuma’s counsel, Advocate Dali Mpofu, stated that this was all about a president who refused to be subjected to the law like the rest of South Africans.

“Because they know it’s going to be a postponement as it always is in the case of any other accused, but no that’s for the other 60 million inhabitants of South Africa, not the high and mighty,” Mpofu said.

If the whole bench, chaired by South Gauteng deputy judge president Ronald Sutherland, finds in Zuma’s favour, Ramaphosa will be called to the stand as an accused this week.