Zuma picks new legal team
2006-03-26 22:54
Johannesburg - Former deputy president Jacob Zuma has appointed a new legal team under a former Conservative Party MP to fight his "crucifixion by the media".
Zuma has appointed Jurg Prinsloo, an advocate, and Wycliffe Mothuloe, a Johannesburg attorney, to investigate the possibility of defamation charges against newspapers.
Prinsloo is a former Conservative Party MP for Roodepoort and the party's justice spokesperson.
He represented Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Waluz in their trial for the murder of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani.
Zuma apparently has had enough of the media.
The African National Congress's deputy president and his supporters have felt for a long time that the media formed part of a plot to stop him from becoming South Africa's next president.
In an interview with the Sowetan on Friday, Zuma accused former minister Penuell Maduna and former director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka of calling on the press to help destroy him.
'No Christ comparison'
This interview will be the first subject of the new legal team's brief.
A letter was sent by Mothuloe at the weekend to the editor of Sowetan, Thabo Leshilo, in which Zuma denied that he had compared himself to Jesus during the interview.
The headline for the interview read: "I'm like Christ - Zuma".
Zuma was quoted as saying the newspapers wanted to crucify him like Christ.
"Our client strongly rejects and distance himself from this comparison and stresses his deepseated and sincere respect for the Christian faith," read the lawyer's letter.
Leshilo said on Sunday that he had not yet seen the letter and didn't want to elevate it by reacting to it.
"But, we stand by what we wrote. We have it on tape."
Mothuloe didn't want to comment on Sunday: "It is a big risk to talk to the media. I'm hesitant to do so."
He said he would comment as soon as Zuma had given them a "proper mandate".
Zuma and his media legal team were to have met on Sunday to discuss their strategy.
Zuma recently complained about the media after a report in
Rapport about a woman who was paid by Schabir Shaik to "service" him.
Scorpions 'cleared'
Zuma accused the Scorpions of leaking this information, which formed part of a sworn statement by one of Shaik's former employees, to Rapport.
The Scorpions laid an official charge with public prosecutor Lawrence Mushwana, who ruled that it could not be proved that the information had been leaked by the Scorpions.
Zuma's rape trial was to resume at 10:00 in Johannesburg High Court on Monday, when his legal team is expected to file an application for his release.