FORMER president Jacob Zuma has lambasted the state for the delay of his corruption trial.
Zuma told the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday, 26 October, that the case would be over by now if prosecutor Billy Downer had recused himself.
Speaking through his lawyer, Advocate Dali Mpofu SC, he said the trial would have started in October 2022 as it was set down for.
"We would have just all came here and said ‘My Lord, the NPA has withdrawn Downer or Downer himself has withdrawn and we are ready to call the first witness’. That trial would have been finished now. It's now October again. It's a year later,” said Mpofu.
He said instead, the state wanted to blame his client for the delay.
He said a lot of taxpayers' money has been wasted with the court case whereas Downer could have just removed himself.
“And we are going to be told that money, which has been wasted purely by intransigence (refusal) of the other side in the face of clear ethical duties on them, must be piled on the head of the accused and blamed on him. That's the kind of duplicity that we face," said Mpofu.
Zuma wants Downer to be removed from his arms deal trial which dates back to 2005.
ALSO READ: Drug dealers dealt R800 million blow!
He claimed he was biased against him and is taking the matter personally as he cried when charges were dropped in 2009.
Zuma faces 16 counts of corruption, racketeering, fraud and money laundering. In total, he's accused of accepting 783 illegal payments.
Mpofu claimed that Downer deliberately leaked Zuma’s medical information to fuel “the media frenzy” that he was faking his illness.
“Prosecutors not only failed to close their ears from media noise, but they went to fuel it and Downer was an active participant in that,” said Mpofu.
Advocate Geoff Budlender SC for Downer told the court that the private prosecution applications, which were the trigger for the current application "have been repeatedly and emphatically dismissed" in different court rulings, including the SCA two weeks ago.
He said the SCA judgment found that his private prosecution application was instituted with “an ulterior motive” to remove Downer.
The court ruled that Zuma’s attempt was “patently a hopeless case”, “unsustainable” and “abuse of the process of the court”.
“The complaint has already been rejected by the courts,” said Budlender.
He claimed that evidence showed that his client conducted his duties with skill professionally, fairly and with dignity.
“It' true that when he learnt what some of his colleagues had done and were going to do (dropping charges), he burst into tears. He explains that this was because his colleagues had betrayed their obligations and thereby betrayed him who was carrying out his obligation,” said Budlender.
Judge Nkosinathi Chili reserved the judgment.
