|
Zuma - The Latest |
| Publication |
Cape Argus |
| Date | 2009-01-13 |
| Reporter | Murray Williams |
|
Web Link |
The ANC is poised to launch its own legal rescue
bid *1 to ensure party president Jacob Zuma never goes on trial to face
graft charges.
The ANC’s decision to step more actively into the fray comes amid yesterday’s
sensational Supreme Court of Appeal judgment that overturned Judge Chris
Nicholson’s ruling in favour of the ANC president.
While the legal fraternity weighed up the choices open to Zuma in the wake of
the ruling, the ANC’s Mathews Phosa confirmed this morning that it was ready to
launch a legal bid to have a stay of prosecution granted.
And a senior ANC source told the Cape Argus today: “The ANC feels that this case
is increasingly undermining our own
constitutional rights *2. It constantly tries to impact on who is our
president, and who is our presidential candidate for the national elections.
“ANC lawyers have been instructed to actively and directly to become involved.”
This means that the NPA could from now have to fend off dual appeals by both
Zuma and the ANC.
Both Zuma and the ANC’s NEC have secured the services of one the country’s
toughest anti-arms deal figures *3,
corruption-busting Judge Willem Heath, to help keep Zuma out of the dock.
Heath has been working quietly with Zuma for the
past four years.
The ANC is also believed to be listening particularly closely to
US-educated Paul Ngobeni, the Deputy Registrar of Legal Services at UCT, who
insists it would be impossible for Zuma to have a fair trial.
Speaking exclusively to the Cape Argus, Heath yesterday denied that he had
performed a gamekeeper-turned-poacher switch.
“I have been hired to assist the NEC in understanding all the issues pertaining
to the case against Mr Zuma, to advise them on what matters they should debate
with Mr Zuma,” Heath explained.
He stressed he was not part of Zuma’s defence team, but served to
advise both Zuma and the NEC on the arms deal’s
complexities.
Heath acknowledged that he was ideally placed to offer expert advice because of
his initial work on the arms deal *4. He
was later ordered off the case and his Heath Special Investigating Unit was
controversially shut down by then-President Thabo Mbeki.
This was only after Heath had received voluminous
representations on the arms deal from key sources *5, and had dealt
extensively with three of the state’s key agencies – the NPA, the
Auditor-General and the Public Protector.
Heath said he had studied closely the 98-page indictment against Zuma on
corruption, fraud, racketeering and tax evasion charges and said particular
notice should be paid to Judge Louis Harms’s mention yesterday that Zuma should
not automatically be seen to be guilty after Schabir Shaik’s conviction –
because their “intentions may have been different”.
“If Judge Squires had had the benefit of the defence that Mr Zuma could have
offered, he might well have reached different conclusions,” Heath argued.
Commenting this morning, Ngobeni confirmed to the Cape Argus that he had spent
“a considerable amount of time conducting extensive research into the
constitutional violations” involved in Zuma’s case.
“Even persons who obviously dislike Zuma, who want to see him gone, would have
to acknowledge that arguments about constitutional violations are valid. By
going public and saying there was a prima facie case against him – by branding
him a ‘guilty man walking’ – in other countries that would doom the case.
There was no need (for former NPA head Bulelani Ngcuka) to brand him in public.”
Ngobeni said an unfair trial ruling would not require the suggestion that a
judge would be incapable of making a fair ruling.
“It’s not because we don’t have good judges – they are second to none, and they
could push all the newspaper articles aside and view the evidence subjectively.
“Instead, it's because, by branding the man publicly, there is a perception of
guilt in the minds of the public,” Ngobeni said.
“The NPA's tactics have so polluted the atmosphere that Zuma's chances of a fair
trial are nil.
“It it based on the widespread doctrine of abuse of process and is recognised in
the UK and all Commonwealth countries.”
It is this specific argument that the ANC is known to be taking special interest
in.
The ANC also defending its decision to recall president Thabo Mbeki in the wake
of the Nicholson ruling.
Spokesman Carl Niehaus said: “The NEC discussed
the position of Mbeki for almost 18 hours. Of that, the judgement of Nicholson
took about 45 minutes. *6
The major issues were the breakdown in the relationship between the
executive and the ruling party.”
Speaking further on the arms deal yesterday, Heath told the Cape Argus that he
remained adamant that anyone guilty of arms deal corruption, including Zuma,
should be prosecuted - if there was suffient evidence.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) yesterday again dismissed speculation
that the state was negotiating a legal deal with Zuma’s lawyers and said that
the effect of the “correct” ruling was that the ANC president was still an
accused. NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said that only a date for his next
appearance in court was under discussion.
The NPA confirmed today that Zuma’s lawyers had informed them that they planned
to make formal representations in connection with the charges.
Opposition parties welcomed yesterday’s judgment and urged the NPA to continue
the legal process and to “give Zuma his day in court”.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille also called on Zuma to step aside in his
bid for the presidency.
Party insiders believe this route would be too divisive for the party, which has
already seen a split after its decision to dismiss former President Thabo Mbeki.
In addition, sources suggested that die-hard alliance supporters of Zumas have
already ensured that those who were in favour of a compromise presidential
candidate have been squashed.
Businessman and one-time presidential aspirant Tokyo Sexwale was apparently
quizzed about the revival of a third way “movement”.
– Additional Reporting by Christelle Terreblanche and Moshoeshoe Monare
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