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The North Gauteng High Court has ruled that Advocate Shaun Abrahams, the national director of public prosecutions, must vacate his seat – hours before he was expected to shed some light on whether or not corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma would be reinstated.
Judge Dunstan Mlambo ruled that, due to his pending corruption case, Zuma was conflicted in appointing someone to the position, and that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa must appoint a new director in the next 60 days.
In another twist to the tale, Abrahams was due to respond to the Democratic Alliance regarding the 783 charges against President Jacob Zuma today.
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”.
But was there ever a chance that Zuma would sbe successfully prosecuted?
Highly placed sources within the National Prosecuting Authority and security cluster told City Press in October that huge pitfalls in the way of a successful prosecution included the fact that the top prosecutor initially involved in the case, Advocate Billy Downer, will no longer be able to participate.
Another crucial fact was that Zuma’s convicted former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, had already indicated that he would testify in support of Zuma, not against him.
“That leaves us with [French defence company] Thomson-CSF’s [former] secretary, Susan Delique, as our key witness,” said one source.
“We are not sure if she will cooperate or if we will be able to locate her. I do not see the prosecution happening anytime soon because there are still two processes that have to unfold.”
Read: Justice against Zuma in 'spy tapes' saga 'highly unlikely' - sources
In Ocober, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed with costs, estimated at R30 million, the appeal put forward by Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority on the “spy tape” saga.
In 2009, the charges were dropped against the president just before he was sworn in as president, but the DA wanted the charges to be reinstated.
The “spy tapes” saga went back to recorded conversations between former Hawks boss Leonard McCarthy and former NPA boss Bulelani Mgcxuka, which provided scathing evidence into collusion against Zuma between former NPA officials and former president Thabo Mbeki.
