Africa-Press – South-Africa. Former president Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution against specialist legal journalist Karyn Maughan and senior State advocate Billy Downer has been postponed.
Zuma still has two appeals outstanding – one for his private prosecution loss and another for an enforcement order to prevent private prosecution actions.
Three judges set aside his private prosecution, calling it an abuse of power. Zuma took the ruling on appeal.
The private prosecution could fall away if the appeal fails.
On Thursday, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg ruled in favour of Downer and Maughan in their enforcement application, halting actions relating to Zuma’s private prosecution.
Zuma, who is back from Russia where he sought medical treatment, was present in court.
Zuma filed a leave to appeal application immediately after the enforcement order ruling.
Through his lawyers, Zuma called for the dismissal of the enforcement order, arguing that the urgency of the enforcement application was contrived and amounted to an abuse of court process.He said no exceptional circumstances for the order had been established on a balance of probabilities and added that the underlying decision for the order was “inherently deficient and riddled with irregularities”.
The private prosecution matter is scheduled to return to court on 1 November.
Outside court, News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson said he didn’t expect to see Maughan back in the dock.
He said:
“We believe the enforcement order case will go to the Supreme Court of Appeal, but we don’t think there is any prospect of success. We believe Karyn will not have to be back in the dock after today.”
Speaking on behalf of the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Mzwanele Manyi said he believed Maughan and Downer would appear on 1 November.
“This is not about media freedom,” he said.
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