More woes await Zuma over his legal fees
THE Presidency says it will abide by the decision of the court on whether former president Jacob Zuma should pay his own legal bills.
In March, the DA filed papers asking the court to declare that the decision to pay for Zuma’s legal representation be set aside.
The party also asked the court to order that the R15.3 million already spent on the litigation be refunded.
The Presidency had incurred R15.3m in legal costs during the protracted court battle between the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the DA following the 2009 decision by the NPA to drop charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering against Zuma.
Yesterday, the Presidency said it had filed a notice in the Pretoria High Court to abide by the court’s decision on the application by the DA.
“The Presidency has indicated that it nevertheless intends to submit an explanatory affidavit to assist the court in understanding the history, legal basis, rationale and processes relating to the provision of this support,” it said in a statement.
Last month, the Presidency withdrew an appeal against the judgment which ordered Zuma to personally pay the legal costs.
DA federal council chairperson James Selfe said his party was pleased that the Presidency, the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services and the state attorney had indicated that they would abide by the court ruling.
“We have always believed that the ex-president Jacob Zuma is personally liable for costs incurred, which had nothing to do with his position as the president or deputy president or MEC for Economic Development, to the extent that he was prosecuted as an individual South African.”
Selfe said Zuma had opposed the DA’s application to reinstate the charges against him as a private citizen.
“We could find no reason for the state to pick up the costs, estimated at R32m of taxpayers’ money, that is acceptable in criminal defence and opposition to our civil application,” he said.
Selfe said the DA and Zuma would first have to file their papers. A court date would then be set to decide who should pay for the defence of the former president.