Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma's bid to appeal the state capture judgment is a serious cause of concern and could prove to be waste of taxpayers' money and a further delaying tactic, the South African Communist Party (SACP) said.
Last week Zuma instructed his attorneys to file an application for leave to appeal against the ruling which ordered him to set up a commission of inquiry into state capture and allow a judge appointed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng as Zuma was implicated in the allegations of state capture through his friends, the Gupta family.
SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said Zuma's intention to appeal the judgment should be viewed as a serious cause for concern.
READ: Zuma's appeal on state of capture judgment a delaying tactic - Fedusa
"All alliance partners, inclusive of the ANC, and therefore without exception, and a wide range of other deeply concerned South Africans welcomed the judgment and called on President Zuma to comply," said Mashilo.
"The appeal will prove to be a waste of taxpayers' money and a further delaying tactic particularly should it be dismissed.
"South Africa needs to root out corruption in all its manifestation if it is to become a prosperous society underpinned by a fully developed democracy without the exploitation of public resources, national wealth and one person by another."
'Embarrassing'
Opposition party the Democratic Alliance indicated that it would oppose Zuma's application.
"We cannot allow this abuse of court processes to become a feature of the way the president gets away with things," James Selfe, the DA's federal council chair said on Friday.
"We will once more seek a punitive, personal costs order against Mr Zuma."
The Economic Freedom Fighters conceded Zuma's right to appeal, but welcomed the fact that he would be able to use taxpayer's money.
"It is obvious that the man has lost all capacity to feel shame," said EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi in a statement.
"It is not only embarrassing that he is fighting to appoint a judge in a commission that will be investigating him. It is also a perfect sign that he wishes to undermine the inquiry itself by either delaying it or undermining it from a legal principles point of view."
READ: DA to oppose Zuma's state capture appeal
Just days after the African National Congress during its 54th elective conference said that a commission of inquiry into state capture must be instituted urgently, Zuma argued, in court papers filed that the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria erred in law when it ruled that he was ill-advised and reckless when he launched an application to set aside the Public Protector's remedial actions in the State of Capture report.
In the report, former Public Prosecutor Thuli Madonsela recommended that a judge appointed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng must oversee the judicial inquiry.
Madonsela investigated allegations of undue influence on the state and state-owned entities by the Guptas.
Judgment
A full Bench of the High Court, led by North Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo, dismissed Zuma's application against Madonsela's report and ordered that Zuma be held personally liable for the legal costs, another point of contention in the ruling that is argued by Zuma.
Mlambo said president's litigation was in "flagrant disregard" of the office of the Public Protector, and ordered that Zuma pay litigation costs from October 14 in his personal capacity.
"The president must have realised there was no basis for him to persist with the litigation," Mlambo said.
"The facts speak for the president's clearly unreasonable stance," Mlambo added.
Zuma said that the court erred by holding him personally liable for the legal costs as he was not cited in his personal capacity or given an opportunity to explain his conduct to decide on punitive ruling.
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