Zuma's guilt or innocence 'pressing'

2008-07-11 14:01

Durban - Determining whether African National Congress president Jacob Zuma is innocent or guilty is of the most "pressing interest", the National Prosecuting Authority said in papers lodged with the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday.

The NPA's answering affidavit was in response to Zuma's application to have its decision to prosecute the ANC president declared unconstitutional.

However, in the answering affidavit senior investigator at the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), Johan du Plooy wrote: "I submit that the most pressing interest involved is to have the guilt or innocence of a person who aspires to the highest office of the land definitively determined in a court of law. The granting of this application would only serve to delay this end."

Zuma's application was expected to be heard in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on August 4 and 5.

Zuma contends that the decision to prosecute him, announced shortly after the ANC's national conference in Polokwane in December 2007, constituted a review and reversal of a 2003 decision not to do so.

He said he had not been given the opportunity to make representations as to whether the 2003 decision should be reviewed.

"This is a clear and, I submit, conscious and deliberate negation of the constitutional prerequisites of calling for representations, considering these if provided and then making an informed decision whether to reverse the earlier decision and institute a prosecution or not."

Du Plooy said Zuma was not "entitled to make representations before being charged. The prosecution imperative remains, namely to prosecute without fear, favour or prejudice," he said.

- SAPA