Jacob Zuma, whose time as president was characterised by allegations of corruption and state capture, says no other person has suffered as much "personal and political prejudice" since the advent of democracy in SA as he has.
In an affidavit filed as part of a high court bid to have his corruption prosecution permanently stopped, he argues he has suffered unparalleled treatment at the hands of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
"From the inception of the investigation of the arms deal to date, the prosecution against me is replete with instances of political manipulation and abuse of process by the NPA.
"I have become a career obsession of some prosecutors, whose goal is to secure my conviction at all costs."
On the campaign trail ahead of the ANC’s manifesto launch in January, President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to the "nine lost years" under Zuma, without mentioning the former president by name.
Nedbank chief economist Dennis Dykes wrote in an article published in Business Day on Tuesday that corruption and maladministration during Zuma’s second term in office cost the country about R470bn.
In his affidavit, Zuma argues that the "spy tapes" recordings of former prosecutions boss Bulelani Ngcuka and then Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy discussing the timing of his being recharged in the arms deal case revealed "the most grotesque political manipulation and interference ever experienced in the post-apartheid criminal justice system".
Interference
Those recordings prompted former acting prosecutions head Mokotedi Mpshe to drop the corruption case against Zuma on the basis that it had been fatally tainted by political interference. That decision was later overturned in court.
Zuma now says documents he obtained from the NPA — under threat of possible legal action — have fortified his views that he was unfairly targeted.
"The NPA documents also reveal that some of the people that the NPA wanted to testify against me were not willing to testify," Zuma states. "I challenge the NPA to provide me with the list of witnesses, which was compiled after or shortly before" the decision by then NPA boss Shaun Abrahams on whether to charge him.
Zuma further accuses the NPA of misleading the courts and the public by portraying him as "the person who is avoiding facing trial".
He says the NPA could have put him on trial as early as 2002, but chose not to.
The former president’s application for a permanent stay of prosecution is based on his argument that the NPA should have charged him with corruption at the same time as his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, but that it had unfairly delayed putting him on trial.
It is the state’s case that Shaik and his company Nkobi Holdings made 783 payments to Zuma, totalling more than R4m, in the 10-year period between October 25 1995 and July 1 2005.
In return for these payments, the state claims, Zuma abused his position as MEC and as deputy president of the ANC to do unlawful favours for Shaik and his company.
The state further alleges that French arms company Thales "conspired with Shaik and Zuma" to pay the former president R500,000 a year as a bribe in exchange for Zuma’s protection from any investigations.
The former president denies any wrongdoing.
He also argues that his right to a fair trial has been severely compromised by "pre-trial irregularities; political or executive interference"; and "forensic prejudice", including loss of evidence and memory loss linked to the state’s delays in putting him on trial.
He vehemently denies that he was responsible for these delays because of the multiple legal challenges he brought to various aspects of the case against him, as well as to the conduct of the NPA. The NPA will respond to Zuma’s permanent stay application in early March.
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