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The North Gauteng High Court on Thursday ruled that taxpayers will no longer be footing the bill for former president Jacob Zuma’s legal fees – both for his criminal or civil proceedings.
Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba, who passed down the judgment, said that the state was not liable for the legal costs incurred by Zuma in his personal capacity during criminal prosecutions instituted against him.
He also nullified the decision taken by the presidency and the state attorney which committed the state to covering Zuma’s legal fees incurred during the criminal prosecutions instituted against him in June 2005, December 2007 and March of this year.
Ledwaba declared the presidency and state attorney’s resolutions as “invalid”, reviewable and set them aside.
The judgment was handed down after an application was brought by the DA to have the 2006 agreement authorising state funding for Zuma’s defence to be set aside.
Both the DA and EFF brought applications to the high court and challenged the legality of the deal struck by the presidency and the state attorney.
The political parties took these steps after President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed that the agreement, signed by Zuma under former president Thabo Mbeki, formed the basis for the decision to continue paying for Zuma’s legal fees in the spy tapes case.
Having set aside the agreement between the presidency and the state attorney, Ledwaba also urged the state attorney to compile the full costs incurred by Zuma and advised that all necessary steps should be taken to recover all monies incurred thus far, including the institution of civil proceedings against Zuma to recover the amounts paid by the state.
Last month, Zuma’s legal counsel argued that the joint applications by the DA and EFF was politically motivated and without legal merit.
He said the applications were merely meant “to derail the former president and his legal team from focusing on his corruption, money laundering and racketeering court case”.
The ruling could prove to be costly, not only for the former president - whose legal battles have cost millions of rands to defend in court - but also for other Cabinet ministers.
Zuma’s application for funding to the state attorney was last month approved by the presidency, meaning already heavily taxed South Africans had to cough up for the legal costs incurred by Zuma in respect of the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
The former president’s application for funding was approved along with those of other colleagues who are also set to appear before Judge Raymond Zondo.
Rodney Isaacs, chief litigation officer of the justice and constitutional development department, confirmed that Zuma’s legal fees for the state capture inquiry are being funded by the presidency through the state attorney.
Ledwaba’s ruling is set to also affect scores of former members of Cabinet and senior officials who are also set to testify before Zondo, which could result in enormous legal costs that they may have to now cover in their personal capacity.
Isaacs said the communications department had requested that Faith Muthambi, former minister of communications, be assisted at the state’s expense and a request for Malusi Gigaba, former home affairs minister, was pending.
Rough estimates by lawyers indicate that the costs for Zuma’s legal team over the course of the commission could amount to between R24 million and R30 million. In addition, Zuma has - according to the DA - already incurred an estimated R15 million in legal costs.
The EFF put the figure closer to R32 million for costs related to his fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering case that he may now have to pay back should the civil litigation be instituted as per Ledwaba’s ruling.
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