Zuma corruption battle skips SCA – going straight to the Constitutional Court
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has filed court papers requesting leave to appeal the High Court ruling which said that a decision to drop over 750 charges of corruption against president Jacob Zuma was irrational.
According to the City Press, documents were submitted on Friday, which would effectively ‘skip’ a Supreme Court of Appeals ruling on the matter – even though the president himself will reportedly be taking that route.
The NPA believes that the matter is a Constitutional one, because the head of the NPA has the discretion, constitutionally, to withdraw criminal charges, and was now effectively being forced to change.
The NPA also said it approached the ConCourt because of the significance of the case – involving the president of the country, thus having great public interest.
In late June, Zuma and the NPA’s bid to appeal the High Court ruling that the president should face corruption charges was been dismissed.
Presiding Judge Ledwaba said that leave to appeal may only be given if the court felt that the appeal will have reasonable prospects of success.
“We conclude there are no merits,” the judge said.
The High Court said there are no questions of law in the case that need to be settled by Supreme Court of Appeal.
In late April 2016, the full bench of the High Court in Pretoria ruled that Zuma should face the 783 charges of corruption. The court ruled that the decision to discontinue the prosecution against the president should be reviewed and set aside.
Following the ruling, the NPA announced that it would move to appeal the ruling on several grounds – primarily that the ruling brought into question the independence of the NPA, and the implications for other cases handled by the authority.
The president’s team fought the ruling on the basis that the court erred in saying that the decision to drop the charged were irrational.
Legal experts have said that any appeal has a slim chance of going through, while opposition parties have called the processes a delaying tactic.
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