PIETERMARITZBURG High Court Judge Nkosinathi Chili has removed former president Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution against state Advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan from the court roll.
Chili ruled on Wednesday morning, 17 April, stating that his judgment is pending Zuma’s appeal in the Constitutional Court, should he decide to appeal and be successful in it.
This came after Zuma accused Downer, the lead prosecutor in the corruption case in the arms deal matter, of leaking a doctor’s letter to Maughan and the media.
The former president has failed in two attempts to have the pair prosecuted privately.
His application for a private prosecution was dismissed in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the ConCourt in 2023. He appealed again in the same ConCourt and waited for the judgment.
The judge acknowledged that Zuma was appealing the rulings against him at the ConCourt.
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He said justice would be best served, if the matter was struck off the roll, pending the ConCourt ruling.
Chili ordered Downer and Maughan to present themselves in court in the future, should Zuma succeed with his appeal.
“The private prosecution by Mr Zuma of Mr Downer and Miss Maughan is removed from the roll. Paragraph 2: Such removal is without prejudice to the rights of Mister Zuma in terms of Section 11, subsection of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977.
“Paragraph 3: Mr Downer and Miss Maughan are expected to appear as accused persons in the private prosecution on the date to be determined in the event that judgment and order in the full bench of Justices Kruger, Hendricks and Masipa,” he said.
In the arms deal corruption case, Zuma and a French arms company, Thales, face multiple charges, including fraud‚ corruption, money laundering, and racketeering.
The matter is expected to sit in June.
