The legal wrangling between former president Jacob Zuma and his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, continued at the weekend with Zuma lashing out at his “incorrect legal conclusions” regarding the Criminal Procedure Act.
This is after Zuma announced on December 15 that he had charged Ramaphosa in a private prosecution with the criminal offence of being an accessory after the fact “in the crimes committed” by prosecutor Billy Downer.
Zuma said the “serious crimes” for which Ramaphosa had been charged in a court of law carries a 15-year jail term.
Ramaphosa has been summoned to appear in court on January 19 to face a charge of being an “accessory after the fact” in the same private prosecution Zuma is pursuing against Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for disclosing a document concerning Zuma’s medical state.
Business Day reported the charge is likely to lead to calls by Ramaphosa’s political opponents for him to “step aside” in line with the ANC’s step-aside rule, but the ANC’s electoral committee said Zuma’s attempt to privately prosecute Ramaphosa in a bid to disqualify him from standing for a second term is “irrelevant”.
The presidency said Ramaphosa rejects with the “utmost contempt” Zuma’s abuse of legal processes and the “perversion of the ‘nolle prosequi’ (private prosecution) provision”.
“In accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act, a private prosecution can only be instituted after the individual prosecuting has obtained a certificate of non-prosecution. The certificate serves as a legal confirmation that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will not proceed with the prosecution following its consideration of the charges,” the presidency said.
“Mr Zuma has not provided such a certificate with charges in the name of President Ramaphosa. The summons served to the president is hopelessly substandard and demonstrates absolute disregard of the law.”
In a letter to Zuma from the state attorney, Ramaphosa warned him of a possible punitive costs order unless he retracts the summons.
In a letter to the state attorney, dated December 17, Zuma’s attorney Walter Niedinger from WNA Attorneys said they “totally disagree with all the incorrect legal conclusions” contained in a letter to Zuma on Saturday that “the summons does not meet the requirements of section 7(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act, Act 51 of 1977”.
Niedinger disagreed with the notion the summons was issued in abuse of process and specifically in connection with the start of the ANC’s national elective conference, where Ramaphosa is seeking a second term as party leader. Zuma is attending the congress at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, and the “fact that your client is also obviously attending the same conference is therefore coincidental”.
“Our client is not willing to be sucked into pointless, wasteful and fruitless sideshow litigation which your client may wish to improperly conduct at state expense, and which would unduly protract the criminal proceedings,” said Niedinger.
“Therefore, he will in principle and for the sake of progress not be fundamentally opposed to your request or proposal for the withdrawal (and immediate reissue) of the criminal summons, each party to pay its own costs provided you agree that the service of such replacement documents upon you or your Johannesburg offices so as to avoid the duplication of the costs which he has already incurred to serve the current summons.”
Niedinger said the current summons, which had been duly issued by the Registrar of the High Court and “lawfully served by the sheriff, remains valid until the summons may either be withdrawn by our client or set aside by a court of law”.
“If you are agreeable and due to the ongoing conference, kindly also agree to extend the time within which we may revert with our client’s final position, to 20 or 21 December 2022. In the meantime, please inform us as soon as possible, but not later that 17h00 on 18 December 2022 whether or not our above mentioned counterproposals regarding method of service and reverting date are accepted.”
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