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Zuma back in court!

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Former president Jacob Zuma will be in the Joburg High Court for his private prosecution against President Cyril Ramaphosa. File photo.
Former president Jacob Zuma will be in the Joburg High Court for his private prosecution against President Cyril Ramaphosa. File photo.

FORMER president Jacob Zuma is expected to appear in the Joburg High Court on Thursday, 11 April, for his private prosecution matter against President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The Jacob Zuma Foundation confirmed that the former statesman will attend the case.

"The Jacob G Zuma Foundation announces that its patron, President Zuma, will tomorrow attend the case of the private prosecution of Mr Cyril Ramaphosa in the criminal court to be held at the Johannesburg High Court," said foundation spokesman Mzwanele Manyi.

Manyi said Zuma would be attending in his capacity as the private prosecutor.

They had sat on 4 December 2023, and it was postponed to Thursday, 11 April to update the criminal court of the progress in the ongoing appeals in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) against the court order reviewing and settling aside the summons served on the accused in December 2022 at his home and in his personal capacity.

Zuma appealed the 5 July court judgment that declared his private prosecution of Ramaphosa unlawful and unconstitutional.

The court also ordered Zuma to pay Ramaphosa's legal costs, including the two counsels employed.

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The judges said: "The summons Mr Zuma issued against Mr Ramaphosa out of this court... dated 15 and 21 December 2022 are unlawful, invalid and set aside. Mr Zuma's private prosecution instituted under the summons is unlawful and unconstitutional and is set aside."

The court also prevented him from using the same approach in future to bring charges against Ramaphosa.

The matter stems from what Zuma alleged was the leaking of his private medical information by prosecutor Billy Downer to News24 journalist Karyn Maughan in August 2021.

The former president wanted to prosecute Ramaphosa for failing to investigate or take necessary steps to bring Downer and Maughan to justice.

According to Zuma, this made Ramaphosa an accessory after the fact.

Ramaphosa argued that he believed Zuma got the so-called nolle prosequi certificate - which allowed him to pursue these charges - in a bid to hamper his election at the ANC's 55th national elective congress in Nasrec, Joburg, in December 2022.

The summons was served on Ramaphosa on the eve of the conference.

A nolle prosequi certificate is issued by the prosecuting authority to confirm that the state has no intention of pursuing a particular charge against a person, and it is only with this in hand that the injured party who wishes to initiate the prosecution can approach the court.

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