The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has confirmed it is ready to proceed with the corruption trial of former president Jacob Zuma. But he is almost certain to seek to appeal the dismissal of his permanent stay of that prosecution, partly because he cannot afford to go on trial.
The previously unfettered state funding of Zuma’s legal defence costs enabled him to launch multiple legal challenges to the prosecution against him, which he has repeatedly slammed as politically motivated and a violation of his rights to a fair trial.
Now with that funding having been cut by the Pretoria High Court last year, Zuma is likely to resort to an appeal. This not simply because he believes the Pietermaritzburg High Court got it wrong in wholly dismissing his political conspiracy arguments, but because fighting an appeal would be considerably less expensive than going on trial.
Zuma has previously claimed he will need to sell his socks to pay his lawyers.
Acting director of public prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal Adv Elaine Zungu told Times Select on Monday that “the state is ready to proceed with the trial in this matter”, scheduled to resume in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday.
The earliest the trial can run is in April next year, as it has not yet been set down for hearing on the high court roll.
Times Select, however, understands that both Zuma and French arms company Thales, which stands accused of bribing the then deputy president for his “political protection” from any possible investigations into the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal, will seek leave to appeal the unanimous ruling given against them by three judges, who found no legal basis for the case against them not to continue.
It is unclear whether they will confirm these appeal applications on Tuesday morning or ask for a postponement of the case so they can consider their options.
Thales, which also tried and failed to have the case against it stayed by the high court, is expected to seek to appeal the ruling against it in the Constitutional Court. But it is not clear as yet where Zuma will seek to challenge the ruling against him.
Both he and Thales will need to show they have a reasonable prospect of success on appeal for their cases to be heard.
It is estimated Zuma’s trial will run for at least a year, and require him to pay not only criminal defence lawyers but also financial forensic experts – with no form of legal funding from the state. Zuma is now seeking to appeal the Pretoria High Court’s decision that not only cut his previously unfettered corruption defence costs, but also ordered him to repay more than R16m already spent by the state on his legal fees.
He has accused the judges who ordered him to repay the funds of political bias and argued the courts should “never” criticise or condemn him over his multiple legal challenges to his prosecution.
Zuma, who is expected to return to the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture to face further questions on the allegations in the coming weeks, is also currently battling to keep his Nkandla home after VBS liquidators sought the repayment of a R7.3m loan, which he used to pay back the state for nonsecurity upgrades to that property and has allegedly repeatedly defaulted on.