Zuma to sue his prosecutor as Ramaphosa’s farm robbery ‘scandal’ threatens his tenure
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa (Right) shakes hands with his predecessor Jacob Zuma.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma is to privately sue the state prosecutor in his corruption trial while President Cyril Ramaphosa may be fighting for his political life, following revelations millions in foreign currency were stolen from his game farm in Limpopo.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said Wednesday June 8 that it would not prosecute senior state prosecutor Billy Downer, whom the former president accuses of leaking his medical records.
Mr Zuma argued before the judge in his long-standing trial on 783 counts of fraud, corruption and money-laundering, among other charges, that Mr Downer, who successfully prosecuted Mr Zuma’s former ‘financial adviser’ in 2005 on the same charges arising from a late-1990s arms deal, had ‘lost title’ to prosecute the case due to his alleged bias.
The judge in the successful trial and conviction of Mr Zuma’s advisor Mr Schabir Shaik said there had been "overwhelming" evidence of a corrupt relationship between Mr Shaik and Mr Zuma.
Mr Zuma had also appealed his trial judge’s refusal to accept the argument against Downer, which appeal was also turned down – but Mr Zuma’s team has pressed on with efforts to have Downer removed, including applying to the NPA to have him prosecuted.
The NPA’s refusal to prosecute came with a certificate allowing Zuma to privately prosecute Downer.
But the NPA and legal experts have pointed out that the two legal processes are at this point unrelated and that Mr Zuma’s efforts to remove Mr Downer will almost certainly have no effect on his trial.
It was considered remotely possible that, should Mr Zuma be convicted and his private prosecution of Downer – which will take months to years to finalise – succeed, he might be able then to appeal his conviction and sentencing on grounds of ‘malicious prosecution’.
But personal bias on the part of a prosecutor is irrelevant in South African law wherein prosecutors are construed necessarily to be aligned to the State’s case they are pressing, and hence cannot be considered biased for being so.
Political analysts have pointed out that the case against Mr Downer is more about Mr Zuma’s efforts to delay his trial further, if possible, the case having been previously dropped, re-opened and repeatedly delayed by numerous appeals.
The trial court is awaiting a determination of Mr Zuma’s petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal Judge President to reconsider his application to appeal against the High Court's dismissal of his special plea for Mr Downer’s removal from his case, after two SCA judges refused the application out of hand.
Legal experts believe Mr Zuma’s chances of impeaching Downer’s right to act as lead prosecutor in his case remain extremely remote.
But Mr Zuma’s loyalists and his Foundation have hailed the development which allows Zuma to make his own prosecution of Mr Downer.
“The tide is turning,” said a legal source close to Mr Zuma’s team.
The upbeat mood in the pro-Zuma faction within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party has been much enhanced by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s growing problems surrounding the theft from his game farm in the Limpopo Province.
The sum, allegedly US$4 million, is said to have been stashed in furniture in his residence on his Phala Phala game farm.
Last week, the former administrative head of South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA), Arthur Fraser, laid criminal charges against Mr Ramaphosa, including of money-laundering, kidnapping and corruption, in connection with a February 2020 robbery.
At the weekend, Mr Ramaphosa adamantly denied any illegality on his part, saying any and all monies held at his farm were the legal proceeds of game or cattle sales. He added that he had reported the matter to the head of the Presidential Protection Unit of the SA police, refuting questions of a ‘cover-up’ alleged by Fraser.
The suspects, believed to be from Namibia, are alleged to have been illegally extradited and tortured to obtain information and confessions, in that the monies on Mr Ramaphosa’s farm, said Fraser, were being held by the President illegally.
Mr Ramaphosa has spoken to his cabinet colleagues and explained to them what had transpired on the farm, how much money he had had there – being, says Mr Ramaphosa, “much, much less than is said” – how it came to be there and what he had done about the robbery.
It is reported from the presidency that Mr Ramaphosa’s cabinet colleagues “accepted’ his explanations, with Mr Ramaphosa’s party saying the authorities should fully investigate before any action, like forcing President Ramaphosa to step aside, was taken.
But the issue has been escalated with a formal complaint from a pro-Zuma political grouping to the Public Protector’s office, which exists in a watchdog role overseeing state entities and officials.
There are also understood to be efforts underway by the remaining pro-Zuma elements in Parliament and the upper echelons of the party to force a Parliamentary vote “recalling” Mr Mr Ramaphosa from his presidential appointment, which requires a majority of just one in the 400-seat House of Assembly to bring into effect.
The ANC has 230 seats, meaning that all opposition members and 31 ANC MPs would have to vote to remove Mr Ramaphosa.
But Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Front (EFF) has vowed to prevent Mr Ramaphosa acting in his official role without protests and other disruptive action.
Today, June 9, Malema and his EFF MPs gave effect to their threat by disrupting a debate on Ramaphosa’s budget, which was to be presented by the president, with scenes similar to those which preceded Jacob Zuma’s ouster in 2018, and with EFF calling the President a “criminal” before the MPs were ejected from the hybrid meeting.
