Zuma’s Private Prosecution Bid Against Ramaphosa Struck Off the Rolla’s
Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution bid against Ramaphosa has been struck off the roll, image: AP
(The Post News) – Former South South African President Jacob Zuma has formally abandoned his private prosecution case against President Cyril Ramaphosa in South Gauteng High Court. The abandonment follows the earlier court’s dismissal this week in which Zuma wanted to resurrect the case.
His legal team applied to remove the matter from the court’s roll, following a series of failed appeals, including a rejection from the Constitutional Court. The matter originally arose in 2022 when he launched his private prosecution against Ramaphosa, accusing him of being an accessory after the fact in the alleged leak of his medical records.
Zuma appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and subsequently the Constitutional Court after the SCA had rejected his petition in 2023. The latter court refused to allow him to appeal, citing the absence of reasonable prospects for the case’s success. His application for condonation for the late filing of his appeal was also denied.
Advocate K Pamla-Sihunu, representing the former president, confirmed that both parties agreed to have the matter removed from the court’s roll. This development follows the Constitutional Court’s ruling earlier this week, which effectively ended the case.
The court of first instances (the hight court) found no merit in the case and struck it down in 2023.
Despite the court’s rulings, his legal team kept the matter on the roll while his appeal process continued. With the final rejection from the Constitutional Court, the case has now been formally removed.
Meanwhile, Zuma was expected to attend the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Cape Town.
However, Mzwanele Manyi, spokesperson for the Jacob Zuma Foundation and a member of the MK Party, confirmed that Zuma would not be attending. Manyi criticized what he described as a “system that hates President Zuma,” claiming it was part of an orchestrated effort to prevent his attendance at the address.
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