Zuma Unable To Attend Court Due To Medical Emergency, His Lawyer Argues Postponement
Former President Jacob Zuma was not present in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday morning for the start of his arms deal corruption trial.
Zuma’s attorney, Advocate Dali Mpofu, informed Judge Piet Koen that his client was unable to appear in court due to a “medical emergency.”
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He stated that Zuma was under the care of the surgeon-general and that he had given permission for the case to proceed without his presence in court.
“There was a medical emergency which took place in the past few hours and we have been liaising with the doctors and the situation is being attended to,” Mpofu said.
“We are assured we might get some kind of documentation later today,” he added.
Zuma and Thales, the French arms manufacturer accused of bribing Zuma, are on trial in connection with the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal.
Mpofu had previously filed an application with the high court to have the corruption trial postponed for two reasons.
Zuma’s “reconsideration application” at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and his bid to pursue the private prosecution of the state prosecutor, Advocate Billy Downer, were the reasons given.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation announced on Sunday that Zuma would seek a private prosecution against Downer for allegedly leaking his confidential medical records to the media. This came after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decided not to charge Downer with the allegations.
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The former president is charged with 16 counts of fraud, corruption, money laundering, and racketeering, while Thales is charged with four counts.
Mpofu had previously filed an application with the high court to have the corruption trial postponed for two reasons.
Zuma’s “reconsideration application” at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and his bid to pursue the private prosecution of the state prosecutor, Advocate Billy Downer, were the reasons given. The Jacob Zuma Foundation announced on Sunday that Zuma would seek a private prosecution against Downer for allegedly leaking his confidential medical records to the media.
This came after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decided not to charge Downer with the allegations.
The former president’s legal team is also awaiting SCA president Mandisa Maya’s decision on their reconsideration application after the appeal court dismissed Zuma’s appeal in March to have Downer removed as the lead prosecutor in the arms deal corruption trial.
Zuma had asked the court for permission to appeal Koen’s rejection of his “special plea” application to recuse Downer from the trial, claiming that the prosecutor lacks independence.
On Monday, Downer argued that Zuma’s reconsideration application was “just a made-up application” with no merits of success at the SCA. “It just appears to be an attempt to put the application in the realm of exceptional circumstances, when really there are no such exceptional circumstances,” Downer said.
Mpofu claimed that Downer’s description of Zuma’s reconsideration application as “made up” was an insult.
Downer also stated that the state would not support the trial being postponed indefinitely after Mpofu confirmed Zuma’s request for the trial to be postponed indefinitely so that he could pursue his various mooted appeals.
Judge Koen stated that he was inclined to reschedule the corruption trial for a later date in May due to Zuma’s reconsideration application, rather than Zuma’s proposed private prosecution of Downer.
Koen adjourned the trial until 2 p.m. to consider whether to postpone it. “I will take the adjournment. I just want to reflect on the arguments and I’ll give my order, possibly with brief reasons but otherwise detailed reasons to follow later. I’ll do that at 2pm,” he said.
