The case against former President Jacob Zuma and French arms deal company Thales is set to resume at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday. The Jacob Zuma Foundation confirmed that the former president will not attend the proceedings.
The case was remanded last month as Zuma approached the Constitutional Court, asking that the leading prosecutor Billy Downer recuse himself for allegedly being biased. The Supreme Court of Appeal rejected Zuma’s leave to appeal Judge Piet Koen’s dismissal of Zuma’s application
In Mid-June, Zuma’s legal team filed an application to the Constitutional Court. Had the court ruled against the former president, the graft trial would have been set to begin on 15 August.
While Zuma’s applications slightly differ, they are all a continuation of his 2021 application known as a “special plea”, to have leading prosecutor Billy Downer removed from the trial. The former president argues that Downer is not fit to prosecute at the trial because he is biased.
Th case is linked to South Africa’s multi-billion-rand arms deal in 1999. Koen dismissed the special plea application in October 2021, saying “many” of the items raised by Zuma’s legal team in support thereof were “based on speculation or suspicion or are based on inadmissibly hearsay evidence and not on fact”.
In February, Zuma was denied leave to appeal the judgement, with judge Koen stating that the trial should proceed. He said Zuma could challenge the special plea once the trial had been completed.
Judge Koen explained: “Criminal trials are not generally adjourned sine die. There is no compelling reason why the present trial should be adjourned sine die, its well overdue. As much as the interest of justice demands that Mr Zuma’s reconsideration application should be allowed to be disposed of, there is also the interest of justice that demands that the litigation must reach finality.”
Source: Daily Maverick, SABC News, ENCA, image from Twitter