Former statesman Jacob Zuma is set to argue the constitutionality of a high court ruling in January which granted President Cyril Ramaphosa an interdict to halt a private prosecution by his predecessor.
Mzwanele Manyi, spokesperson for the Jacob G Zuma Foundation, has confirmed that Zuma has filed papers in the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal the high court ruling.
According to Manyi, Zuma is warranted to take this matter to the apex court because of the many issues that arose from Gauteng deputy judge president Ronald Sutherland’s ruling.
“President Zuma will indeed be appealing the judge Sutherland ruling of that interdict ruling in favour of president Ramaphosa. This will be appealed at the Constitutional Court for a couple of reasons, one of them is that we already have a criminal court date, May 26,” Manyi said.
“So, the intention is to try to make sure that all the issues that may prevent May 26 from happening are cleared, so the quicker you go to court for the final say, the better, and also obviously it is president Zuma’s right to go directly to the Constitutional Court.”
“And lastly, there are issues that came out of the judge Sutherland matter, which are constitutional issues in their own right … so we are cutting to the chase, we go to where the bus stops.”
Zuma is accusing his successor of several crimes including being an accessory in relation to his medical records which he claims senior state prosecutor Billy Downer leaked to Media24 journalist Karyn Maughan.
Also read: Zuma v Ramaphosa: Private prosecution deferred until May 26
For more political news and views, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
