Zuma's prosecution bid against Ramaphosa postponed

The private prosecution bid of former South African President Jacob Zuma against his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, has been postponed to August 6.

Zuma accuses Ramaphosa of failing to act against South Africa’s Prosecutor Advocate Billy Downer (SC) and journalist Karyn Maughan, who both allegedly disclosed Zuma’s medical details during his 2021 corruption trial.

He appeared in the High Court in Johannesburg in his capacity as a private prosecutor.

“In this matter, Jacob Zuma in his capacity as private prosecutor versus Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, an accused, the following order has been reached... it is ordered that one, the criminal proceedings are hereby postponed to the 6th of August 2024,” read the ruling from Judge Norman Manoim in part.

Zuma argues the disclosure of his medical records was in violation of the National Prosecuting Authority Act (NPAA).

Pending legal hearings

Zuma was eventually convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison in the same year for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission probing corruption allegations in government and state-owned companies during his presidential term from 2009 to 2018.

Zuma’s legal counsel, Advocate Dali Mpofu, said the prosecution bid against the president was still before the Supreme Court of Appeal.

On Tuesday, South Africa’s Electoral Court ruled that former President Jacob Zuma can run for office as a lawmaker in the upcoming election, overturning an earlier decision that had barred him from contesting the polls.

The decision paves the way for Zuma to run for president on behalf of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, a new political organisation that he joined last year after denouncing the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party that he once led.

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