The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has persisted with its “conspiracy” argument and failed once again “to deal with the merits” of the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) application to have the prosecution of President Jacob Zuma case reinstated.
The DA on Friday said the NPA had “finally filed” heads of arguments in the “party’s application to have the decision drop the 783 charges of corruption‚ fraud and racketeering levelled against Zuma declared manifestly irrational”.
“From the DA’s preliminary reading of the NPA’s heads of argument‚” said DA shadow justice minister Glynnis Breytenbach‚ “it is clear that the NPA is hell bent on persisting in the narrative that there was a conspiracy against Zuma which warranted the dropping of the charges which is largely irrelevant and does not speak to the veracity and merits of the case itself.”
Breytenbach said the “NPA has quite obviously decided to side-step the issue” of a supplementary confirmatory affidavit filed in court by then NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe in which he distanced himself from the decision to abandon the prosecution of Zuma.
Instead‚ said Breytenbach‚ the NPA‚ in its heads of argument‚ has asserted that this decision was “polycentric”.
But‚ she quoted Mpshe’s affidavit which in which he said “the decision to prosecute Zuma had been taken‚ and the prosecution would be instituted as soon as possible because there was no legitimate reason to delay it — ie no reason related to the prosecution itself”.
This opinion‚ said Breytenbach‚ was echoed by that of NPA prosecutor Billy Downer‚ who also made submissions to the court.
“With every interaction with the respondents in this review application it becomes more and more apparent that the decision to discontinue the prosecution was informed by political considerations and not considerations based in law‚” said Breytenbach.
“This is inherently irrational and on that basis the decision should be set aside.
“It is critical to reiterate that central to this matter is that there is indeed a solid prima facie case against Zuma and that Mpshe himself admits is fit for prosecution.
“He did not make the decision based on an assessment that his earlier decision to institute criminal proceedings against the president was flawed.”
DA :NPA has again ‘side-stepped’ merits of case against Zuma
The DA on Friday said the NPA had “finally filed” heads of arguments in the “party’s application to have the decision drop the 783 charges of corruption‚ fraud and racketeering levelled against Zuma declared manifestly irrational”.
“From the DA’s preliminary reading of the NPA’s heads of argument‚” said DA shadow justice minister Glynnis Breytenbach‚ “it is clear that the NPA is hell bent on persisting in the narrative that there was a conspiracy against Zuma which warranted the dropping of the charges which is largely irrelevant and does not speak to the veracity and merits of the case itself.”
Breytenbach said the “NPA has quite obviously decided to side-step the issue” of a supplementary confirmatory affidavit filed in court by then NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe in which he distanced himself from the decision to abandon the prosecution of Zuma.
Instead‚ said Breytenbach‚ the NPA‚ in its heads of argument‚ has asserted that this decision was “polycentric”.
But‚ she quoted Mpshe’s affidavit which in which he said “the decision to prosecute Zuma had been taken‚ and the prosecution would be instituted as soon as possible because there was no legitimate reason to delay it — ie no reason related to the prosecution itself”.
This opinion‚ said Breytenbach‚ was echoed by that of NPA prosecutor Billy Downer‚ who also made submissions to the court.
“With every interaction with the respondents in this review application it becomes more and more apparent that the decision to discontinue the prosecution was informed by political considerations and not considerations based in law‚” said Breytenbach.
“This is inherently irrational and on that basis the decision should be set aside.
“It is critical to reiterate that central to this matter is that there is indeed a solid prima facie case against Zuma and that Mpshe himself admits is fit for prosecution.
“He did not make the decision based on an assessment that his earlier decision to institute criminal proceedings against the president was flawed.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos