24/06/2008 17:28 - (SA)
Zuma does not want his day in court, affidavit shows
By Dumisane Lubisi
ANC President Jacob Zuma has clearly indicated, in his latest attempt to prevent being brought to court, that he will fight until the end to avoid a trial.
In an 84-page affidavit filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday he said he should have been given a chance to present his case before he was recharged with fraud. This affidavit is in his application to have the case against him withdrawn due to being unconstitutional and invalid. There is no date yet set for a hearing.
He has also indicated that if his latest bid to stop the prosecution fails, he intends bringing an application for a permanent stay of prosecution when the trial starts.
His fraud and corruption trial was scheduled to start in August but will be postponed to a later date because of problems over the availability of a judge to hear the matter.
The fraud charges were initially struck off the roll by Judge Herbert Msimang after the state's application for a postponement was rejected in 2006.
But acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe reinstated the charges in December last year shortly after Zuma defeated President Thabo Mbeki for the ANC president position.
Zuma said that Mpshe's failure to afford him an opportunity to make representations meant that the acting NDPP took the decision to recharge him without all the necessary facts.
"The only reasonable inference to be drawn is one of a grim resolve, irrespective the facts and circumstances, to prosecute me and so prevent my presidency since the earlier strategy to denounce me in public as a crook did not have this desired effect," Zuma said in the affidavit.
He also took a swipe at suspended NDPP Vusi Pikoli for his decision to reverse a 2003 conclusion by then top prosecutor Bulelani Ngcuka not to prosecute Zuma. Ngcuka had said that there was a prima facie case against Zuma but prospects of winning were slim.
"He (Pikoli) did so without calling for any explanations from me or any representatives from me."
He added that Pikoli's decision displayed a "flagrant disregard for the Constitutional obligations ... that the decision is not to be reviewed and certainly not changed without representations from me being called for."
Part of the new charges against him relate to tax invasion. In the affidavit, Zuma said it was not within the NPA's ambit to charge him with tax evasion and that such a complaint should have been made by the South African Revenue Service (Sars). He said that his attorney and Sars representatives had discussed his taxes and the matter had been resolved.
Zuma added that all the charges leveled against him were "mirror images" of the charges brought against his former financial adviser and convicted Durban businessman Schabir Shaik. "If I was charged with Shaik that is exactly how the charges would have read, I would have featured in the joint trial as the bribee, Shaik as the briber. The November indictment even had the same list of 102 witnesses for the State."
Subscribe to the print edition of City Press
|
