<\/p>\n
Johannesburg – Former president Jacob Zuma has put up the R1 million for security for costs demanded by prosecutor Billy Downer in his private prosecution for allegedly leaking his medical records to News24 journalist Karyn Maughan.<\/p>\n
Zuma revealed that he had met Downer\u2019s demand in his response to the application by the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) to join the prosecutor\u2019s Pietermaritzburg High Court bid to set aside the erstwhile head of state\u2019s summons in the private prosecution as amicus curiae (friend of the court).<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been asked by Downer to post a security bond of a R1m. I have despite my impecunious state complied with his demands,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
The former ANC president continued: \u201cI certainly would never have asked my friends and family to assist me to deposit such a huge amount as a deposit if I did not wholeheartedly believe that my private prosecution of Downer will vindicate my rights\u201d.<\/p>\n
Zuma initially paid R90 000 as security but Downer described it as \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d and later demanded R1m after both parties had agreed on R500 000, a similar amount Maughan wanted.<\/p>\n
Louis Liebenberg, a staunch Zuma supporter and diamond dealer, has deposited the R500 000 of the R1m the ex-president needed to pay into the trust account of his lawyer. Liebenberg himself is no stranger to controversy and is currently facing criminal prosecution by the SA Human Rights Commission after an audio clip emerged in which he makes crudely racist remarks.<\/p>\n
The Constitutional Court this week dealt Zuma\u2019s hopes of having Downer removed as a prosecutor in his fraud and corruption trial another blow when it refused him leave to appeal as his challenge has no reasonable prospects of success. Zuma was earlier unsuccessful twice at the Supreme Court of Appeal when he challenged Judge Piet Koen\u2019s October 2021 ruling dismissing his special plea to have Downer removed as a prosecutor.<\/p>\n
The former president accuses Downer of leaking his medical report to Maughan in contravention of the National Prosecuting Authority Act.<\/p>\n
The HSF along with the Campaign for Free Expression, Media Monitoring Africa Trust and the SA National Editors Forum want to be admitted as friends of the court in Downer and Maughan\u2019s challenge to the summons issued by Zuma.<\/p>\n
Mpumalanga-based civil society organisation Democracy In Action also wanted to be admitted as a friend of the court to oppose the four groups\u2019 submissions. Downer and Maughan\u2019s application has been rescheduled for March 2023. According to the HSF, Downer\u2019s application was to prevent Zuma from abusing the court\u2019s processes by pursuing a baseless private prosecution, which it also described as an attempt to undermine the criminal justice system to achieve improper and ulterior purposes.<\/p>\n
Zuma has described the HSF as \u201cmisguided busy bodies and celebrity litigants\u201d. He has also listed President Cyril Ramaphosa, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola, State Security Agency director-general Thembisile Majola, former acting National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Mokotedi Mpshe, retired deputy NDPP Willie Hofmeyr and former Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana, among his 23 witnesses.<\/p>\n
But the HSF maintained that six of Zuma\u2019s witnesses were either not linked to his private prosecution of Downer and Maughan or entirely irrelevant. Judge Sidwell Mngadi reserved judgment in the organisations\u2019 applications to be admitted as friends of the court this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Johannesburg – Former president Jacob Zuma has put up the R1 million for security for costs demanded by prosecutor Billy Downer in his private prosecution for allegedly leaking his medical records to News24 journalist Karyn Maughan. Zuma revealed that he had met Downer\u2019s demand in his response to the application by the Helen Suzman Foundation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[375,2138,7451,12570,4656,11559,1539],"class_list":["post-160443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-case","tag-journalist","tag-prosecutor","tag-r1m","tag-raises","tag-required","tag-zuma"],"yoast_head":"\n