Former Pres. Jacob Zuma. (Photo: Rajesh Jantilal/AFP)
Former Pres. Jacob Zuma has instructed his legal team to urgently apply for leave to appeal against the ruling ordering the controversial trial against him to continue.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation (JZF) argued in a strongly worded statement that Judge Nkosinathi Chili’s ruling in the Pietermaritzburg High Court was “erroneous”.
The foundation also said Chile had “made serious distortions of both the facts and the law”.
Pursuant to Chile’s order, the trial will begin on February 1 next year and will span two court terms.
“It cannot be that a single judge arbitrarily rewrites the Constitution of South Africa, which guarantees substantive and procedural rights to all accused persons,” reads the foundation’s statement.
The foundation also warned against the so-called phenomenon of “Zuma law,” where different standards are believed to apply to the former president than to other civilians.
Chile’s order follows after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) brought an application for the trial to continue despite several pending appeals. The judge granted this application on Thursday and found that it would be “in the interests of justice” for the trial to continue.
However, the foundation questions how the trial will be able to continue, while there are two appeals in which the Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein must deliver a verdict.
In the one application brought by Thales, it is asked that all criminal charges be dropped. The application, which was based on the fact that two key witnesses had since died, was dismissed, but is now being appealed.
Thales and the former president insisted that Alain Thétard and Pierre Moynot’s testimony is essential for a fair trial.
In his own application, Zuma also asked that the chief prosecutor in the trial, Billy Downer, be withdrawn from the case. This application was also refused and is now being fought by the former president in the Court of Appeal.
Zuma is facing 18 charges, including fraud, corruption, racketeering and money laundering. Thales is being prosecuted on charges of corruption and fraud which are believed to be related to 738 transactions.
The case stems from the 1999 weapons scandal in which Thales is believed to have received a contract worth billions of rands for naval weapons systems. A subsidiary of the group is also accused of receiving R500 000 annually from Zuma, allegedly via businessman Schabir Shaik, in exchange for protection against investigations.