While lawyers for African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma have
denied their client discussed "litigation" during a meeting with Mauritian Prime
Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam three weeks ago, Ramgoolam has told the
Financial Times the matter did arise.
"I explained to him that we have an independent judiciary
*1. We don't intervene. The courts will have to decide," Ramgoolam said
earlier this week.
The prime minister was responding to the newspaper about what his thoughts were
on Zuma's reported efforts to get Mauritius to bar South
African authorities from getting evidence *2 to be used in the corruption
case against him
Meanwhile, President Thabo Mbeki was in Mauritius yesterday, meeting
high-ranking government officials, including the president and prime minister.
However Mbeki's scheduled meeting with the chief justice was cancelled because
of what officials termed time constraints.
Mbeki's spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, reiterated that Zuma was not on the
"agenda" during the president's "closed-door" meetings. He also said there was
"nothing strange" about Mbeki's legal adviser, Mojanku
Gumbi, travelling with him.
As head of the ruling party, Zuma is first in line to succeed Mbeki as
SA' s president next year. Seeing that Zuma has publicly stated he would step
aside if convicted, it would make sense for him to pull
out all stops to stifle state bids to access alleged evidence against
him.
The ANC said yesterday it would not comment on the matter. Steven Friedman,
political analyst at policy think-tank Idasa, said if Zuma had requested the
Mauritian prime minister's intervention, it was abuse
of his post.
"He is abusing the office of the ruling party. To ask a foreign head of
government to intervene in his own judicial system, to violate his own
constitutional order, is very serious," Friedman
said.
At the time of Zuma's closed-door meeting with Ramgoolam , Zuma's lawyer,
Michael Hulley, denied media reports that "litigation" was discussed.
Zuma, who visited Mauritius in his private capacity last month, asked the
Mauritian Supreme Court for the right to stop the National Prosecuting Authority
from obtaining the originals of 13 documents used to convict Schabir Shaik, his
financial adviser, of fraud and corruption.
With acknowledgements to Hajra Omarjee
and Business
Day.
*1If and when this pig gets into
power, do we think we will still have an independent judiciary?