'Abuse of legal process' and a 'perversion', Ramaphosa rejects Zuma's private prosecution

• President Cyril Ramaphosa says Jacob Zuma's decision to privately prosecute him is an abuse of the legal process and a perversion of private prosecutions.
• Zuma announced on Thursday that he would prosecute Ramaphosa for "being [an] accessory after the fact to crimes committed by among others Adv [Billy] Downer" in alleged breaches of the NPA Act.
• Ramaphosa wasn't named as a respondent in Zuma's private prosecution of advocate Billy Downer and News24 journalist Karyn Maughan.

An abuse of legal process and a perversion of the private prosecution process – this is how President Cyril Ramaphosa described the private prosecution which corruption-accused former president Jacob Zuma has instituted against him.

On Thursday evening, minutes after Ramaphosa delivered an address to businesspeople at the ANC's gala dinner on the eve of the party's 55th national conference at Nasrec, Johannesburg, the JG Zuma Foundation announced that its patron, Zuma, had instituted a private prosecution against Ramaphosa.

Zuma accused Ramaphosa of "being [an] accessory after the fact to crimes committed by among others Adv Downer" in alleged breaches of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act.

Advocate Billy Downer is prosecuting Zuma on behalf of the State for arms deal-related corruption.

Zuma is seeking to privately prosecute Downer and News24 specialist legal writer Karyn Maughan for allegedly violating the NPA Act through the sharing of court documents – filed by Zuma's lawyers and the State – that contained a sick note from the former president's military doctor.

According to the foundation's statement, Zuma "duly instituted" the private prosecution against Ramaphosa in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, where the "accused person" (Ramaphosa) must appear on 19 January.

On Twitter, Zuma-sycophant Carl Niehaus invoked the ANC's contentious step-aside rule, stating that Ramaphosa should now step aside.

Early on Friday morning, the Presidency issued a statement in which Ramaphosa rejected Zuma's move with the "utmost contempt" and characterised it as an "abuse of legal process" and a "perversion" of the private prosecution provision.

"In accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act, a private prosecution can only be instituted after the individual prosecuting has obtained a certificate of non-prosecution. The certificate serves as a legal confirmation that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will not proceed with the prosecution following its consideration of the charges," read the Presidency's statement.

"Mr Zuma has not provided such a certificate with charges in the name of President Ramaphosa. The summons served to the President is hopelessly sub-standard and demonstrates an absolute disregard of the law."

President Cyril Ramaphosa

GCIS

"These charges are completely spurious and unfounded," he said.

"President Ramaphosa promptly responded to Mr Zuma's letter, indicating steps he had taken, including referring the matter to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, who bears the oversight responsibility over the NPA. President Ramaphosa requested Minister Lamola to refer complaints of improper conduct against advocates Downer and Breitenbach to the Legal Practice Council."

He added:

Zuma's latest legal manoeuvre appears to stem from a new "nolle prosequi" certificate he obtained for his proceedings against Downer and Maughan.

The charges against Maughan and Downer relate to News24's publication of an update on Zuma's medical condition. The medical document was attached to court papers lodged at the High Court in 2021. Documents filed with the court are deemed to be public records unless a judge instructs otherwise. There was no instruction in this instance.

It didn't reveal details of Zuma's condition.

Furthermore, Maughan didn't obtain it from Downer.

Zuma laid a criminal charge against Downer last year. Ramaphosa was not an accused in this charge, and as such, the nolle prosequi certificate did not relate to him.

Zuma only asked that Downer be investigated, and he only named Ramaphosa once in the affidavit he filed when he laid the charge at the Pietermaritzburg police station.

Zuma stated: 

The NPA declined to prosecute and issued a nolle prosequi certificate. Zuma subsequently brought his private prosecution of Downer and Maughan. He indicated that he would call Ramaphosa as a witness in the matter.

In September, Maughan filed an urgent application asking the court to set aside Zuma's prosecution. She argued that the summons issued against her by Zuma's legal team was a gross abuse of court processes and, therefore, should be thrown out.

She said the former president had not obtained a nolle prosequi certificate from the Director of Public Prosecutions to entitle him to institute a private prosecution against her.

Last week, Zuma's lawyer filed an affidavit to Maughan's application, in which he indicated that they had obtained a new nolle prosequi certificate.

After an aggressive letter from Zuma's lawyer, Mongezi Ntanga, in which he accused KwaZulu-Natal Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Elaine Zungu of bias and irrationality for not issuing a nolle prosequi certificate for Maughan, Zungu issued a nolle prosequi certificate, stating that she "decline to prosecute any person in this matter at the instance of the State".

On Friday morning, the JG Zuma Foundation said in a statement that this was the nolle prosequi certificate Zuma's prosecution of Ramaphosa was based on. Nowhere in Ntanga's letter to Zungu was Ramaphosa mentioned.

Also, the certificate was issued by the KwaZulu-Natal DPP, and according to the JG Zuma Foundation, Zuma will prosecute Ramaphosa in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, which raises a question of jurisdiction.

In its statement on Friday, the foundation said that in terms of South African law there was no difference between being charged by the NPA and being charged by a private prosecutor.