South African state prosecutors on Monday said that they would appeal against a court ruling that South African President Jacob Zuma should face about 800 corruption charges, triggering accusations that he was being protected from justice.
Zuma has endured months of criticism and growing calls for him to step down after a series of corruption scandals as the country battles falling economic growth and record unemployment.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) director Shaun Abrahams announced the decision to challenge a High Court order to reinstate 783 charges against Zuma, but denied there had been any political pressure.
Photo: EPA
The charges, relating to a multibillion-dollar arms deal, were dropped in 2009, clearing the way for Zuma to be elected president just weeks later.
At the time, state prosecutors justified dropping the case by saying that tapped telephone calls between officials in then-president Thabo Mbeki’s administration showed undue interference.
However, the Pretoria High Court last month dismissed the decision to discontinue the charges as “irrational” and said it should be reviewed by the NPA.
“The judgment affects ... the discretionary powers of the prosecutor,” Abrahams told a news conference on Monday. “It is so important that I believe it needs a decision of an appeal court.”
Abrahams railed against suggestions that the NPA was reluctant to prosecute Zuma.
“I will always do what is correct, irrespective of whether the individual concerned is an ordinary citizen, a Cabinet minister or a sitting president,” he said.
“Any suggestion that I may have succumbed to any pressure to make my decision — I can assure the public today that it is absolutely ridiculous and completely unfounded,” he said.
Zuma later announced that he too was appealing the ruling that he should face the charges.
“The president believes that the decision of the court affects him directly and is of a strong view that the court erred in several respects in its decision,” the presidency said in a statement.
The tapped telephone recordings, which became known as the “spy tapes,” were kept secret until they were released in 2014 after a legal battle fought by the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The DA dismissed the prosecutors’ appeal bid as “a blatant delaying tactic to shield Jacob Zuma.”
“Abrahams is preoccupied with protecting president Zuma at all costs,” it said. “The DA will not let this matter rest. President Zuma will face justice.”
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