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National director of public prosecutions Shaun Abrahams will respond to the Democratic Alliance regarding the 783 charges against President Jacob Zuma tomorrow.
The DA had asked him to provide written confirmation that he received representations from Zuma with regards to the 783 counts of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering against him.
“We also asked [Abrahams] to provide these representations to the DA, so that we could satisfy ourselves that, in the event that [he was] to decide not to reinstate the charges, the grounds for his decision were rational and therefore lawful,” said James Selfe, chairperson of the DA’s federal council.
Abrahams had initially been given until last Friday to respond to this request but did not revert because he was “abroad on official business”.
Abrahams stated that he will respond to the request by close of business this Friday.
“These presentations cannot under any circumstances be considered in secret, considering Advocate Abrahams’ seeming close proximity to the president,” said Selfe.
“Moreover, if the representations are not rational, the DA will have no hesitation in once more reviewing the decision.”
The DA took the case to court and, last April, the North Gauteng High Court ruled that the charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering against Zuma should be reinstated.
Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority appealed the ruling.
In October, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal against the high court ruling that the decision to dismiss the charges against Zuma in 2009 was irrational.
Then, Zuma had claimed that the charges against him were part of a political conspiracy to prevent him from becoming president.
“We have not spent the last eight and a half years involved in litigation merely to have an unequivocal decision by the highest courts of our land undone by an irrational administrative decision,” said Selfe.
“The DA will not rest until President Jacob Zuma has his day in court. Shaun Abrahams must do the right thing: he must reinstate the charges.”
