PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the South Gauteng High Court decision to halt the private prosecution brought against him by former president Jacob Zuma.
The urgent application was brought to a halt Zuma from proceeding with private prosecution until Ramaphosa’s application to set it aside was heard.
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The court handed down the judgment on Monday and said Zuma would suffer no harm if the interdict was granted.
Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya said the judgment confirmed the president’s view that the private prosecution was motivated by the ulterior purpose based on spurious and unfounded charges.
“The court affirmed all of the president’s key contentions, namely on jurisdiction of the court to hear the interdict application. The court further found in the president’s favour on the violation of rights to personal freedom based on a defective summons,” said Magwenya.
Zuma accused Ramaphosa of being an “accessory after the fact” in his other case against prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan or obstructing the course of justice by facilitating them to evade justice.
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In the judgment handed down by the full bench, Deputy Judge President Roland Sutherland said they found that the harm Ramaphosa would suffer by subjecting himself in the private prosecution process, which he claimed was unlawful, could not be undone. In his argument last week, Zuma said the private prosecutor exercises statutory authority and must be treated like the public prosecutor.
Zuma accused Downer and Maughan of leaking his confidential medical records in the arms deal and he is charging the president for failing to act against them.
Sutherland said their trial was yet to begin and their conviction was a necessary condition for the criminal liability of Ramaphosa. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) distanced itself from the nolle certificates used by Zuma to summons Ramaphosa.
“The president was not mentioned in any of the affidavits or statements and thus the certificates were not issued in relation to him,” it said.
Sutherland agreed with the NPA.
Judgment on costs was reserved.
