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The “spy tapes” court case has never been more relevant or more urgent than it is now, the Democratic Alliance said today.
The long-awaited trial, over the National Prosecuting Authority’s controversial decision to abandon corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma, will be heard tomorrow by a full bench of judges in the North Gauteng High Court.
“For us it is a matter of principle,” said James Selfe, chairperson of the party’s federal council, at a press conference at Parliament.
“It has less to do with President Zuma and more with the independence of the NPA and the reasons they use to institute and drop charges.”
Mokotedi Mpshe, who was the head of the NPA at that time, decided in 2009 to abandon corruption charges against Zuma on the basis of tape recordings of intercepted conversations between Advocate Bulelani Ngcuka (former NPA head), Advocate Leonard McCarthy (former head of the Scorpions) and others.
The recordings apparently show that the timing of the charges against Zuma was manipulated to influence the ANC’s Polokwane leadership election.
The DA maintained that it was irrelevant whether the timing was manipulated – the charges against Zuma stood and he must answer to them.
Selfe said that, in the wake of a string of recent prosecutions that appeared to be political in nature, it was extremely important to establish urgently whether the NPA and other law-enforcement agencies such as the Hawks acted on the basis of merit or politics.
“The case has never been more relevant and had more merit than at the moment, especially as it is now in question whether the NPA is acting without fear, favour or prejudice or whether they are pursuing a political agenda.”
On Friday, Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan positioned himself against “certain individuals” who allegedly launched a campaign to discredit him and the national treasury after he was sent a letter by the Hawks, which cross-examined him regarding the taxman’s alleged “rogue unit”.
The DA was asking the court to declare Mpshe’s decision to not prosecute Zuma irrational and set it aside.
If the DA won the case, it hoped the NPA would reinstate charges against Zuma.
“The president may indeed not be guilty of corruption but must, like any other citizen, have his day in court,” said Breytenbach, who was also present.
The spy tapes case, which has been dragging on for nearly six years, had already cost the DA more than R10 million.
