DA in Pretoria to fetch spy tapes

THE DA is in Pretoria to fetch a very important piece of evidence called the Zuma “spy tapes”, opposition leader Helen Zille said today.

“It’s been five years, six court cases and it is about over 700 charges of corruption... the president,” she told a group of about 100 people gathered outside the High Court in Pretoria.

“We say everyone is equal in the eyes of the law.”

So far there had been no legal evidence for why corruption charges were dropped against President Jacob Zuma.

The National Prosecuting Authority was expected to hand over documents and recordings to the Democratic Alliance, which led to the dropping of the charges.

This followed the Supreme Court of Appeal ruling last week that within five days the NPA had to comply with a previous order, in an application brought by the DA, to release the tapes. President Jacob Zuma had opposed the move.

The recordings, internal memoranda, reports and minutes of meetings dealing with the contents of the recordings had to be provided.

Conversations on the recordings were cited as a reason to drop fraud and corruption charges against Zuma, shortly before he was sworn in as president in 2009.

Zille said she believed there were political reasons for the charges being dropped.

“That’s why we believe they were removed for political reasons so that Jacob Zuma could become president in 2009.

“If this happens in a democratic country you can’t call it a democracy anymore,” she said. “Today we say give us the spy tapes, we want to know the reasons.”

Zille claimed political power was being used to shelter people and persecute enemies.

She said it was the DA’s job to protect the Constitution, not just for the people who voted for it but for all South Africans.

However, this was the “end of the beginning”, she said.

The next step would be a review application.

Zille said the “spy tapes” was only part of the evidence and the DA was entitled to get the entire record. Zille said the state had spent almost R10 million trying to stop the recordings from being handed over. “Tell us why,” she shouted.

The crowed echoed her cry for a reason.

Zille said the documentation would be handed over to the DA in the presence of its forensic expert who inspected the recording devices to make sure the chain of evidence was not broken.