{"id":64592,"date":"2024-04-17T17:10:49","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T17:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll"},"modified":"2024-04-17T17:48:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T17:48:43","slug":"zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll","title":{"rendered":"Zuma\u2019s private prosecution of Downer, Maughan struck off the roll"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Former president Jacob Zuma\u2019s bid to privately prosecute state advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan was struck off the roll by the Pietermaritzburg high court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

This after Maughan\u2019s lawyer, Charl du Plessis, had last week requested the court to strike the matter off the roll due to several failed appeals by Zuma in the private prosecution case.Zuma instituted a private prosecution against Downer and Maughan in 2022, alleging public court documents regarding his corruption case were leaked to the journalist, including a sick note from the former president\u2019s doctors.<\/p>\n

Downer is the lead prosecutor in Zuma\u2019s corruption case related to a multibillion-rand arms deal with French arms company Thales.<\/p>\n

The court had set aside the private prosecution which Zuma tried to appeal but the application was twice dismissed by the Supreme Court of Appeal. Zuma\u2019s appeals are set to head to the Constitutional Court, which could further delay the matter.<\/p>\n

Judge Nkosinathi Chili said striking the matter off the roll would not prejudice Zuma.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot think of any prejudice Mr Zuma would suffer if an order is made to remove the private prosecution from the roll, pending finalisation of his appeal against the order of the full court of this division,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chili said any order which prevents Zuma from reinstating his private prosecution case would amount to a gross violation of his rights to a fair trial and incompatible with the intention of justice, despite the matter being previously set aside.<\/p>\n

“[I make the order that] the private prosecution by Mr Zuma of Mr Downer and Ms Maughan is removed from the roll. Such removal is without prejudice to the rights of Mr Zuma.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Downer and Maughan will avail themselves to appear as accused people on a date yet to be determined if required and pending the outcome of Zuma’s appeal application.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Former president Jacob Zuma\u2019s bid to privately prosecute state advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan was struck off the roll by the Pietermaritzburg high court on Wednesday. This after Maughan\u2019s lawyer, Charl du Plessis, had last week requested the court to strike the matter off the roll due to several failed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":64591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-64592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nZuma\u2019s private prosecution of Downer, Maughan struck off the roll - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former president Jacob Zuma\u2019s bid to privately prosecute state advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan was st ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zuma\u2019s private prosecution of Downer, Maughan struck off the roll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former president Jacob Zuma\u2019s bid to privately prosecute state advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan was st ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-17T17:10:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-17T17:48:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/04\/sm_1713363367.444755.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zuma\u2019s private prosecution of Downer, Maughan struck off the roll\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-17T17:10:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-17T17:48:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll\"},\"wordCount\":339,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/04\/sm_1713363367.444755.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zumas-private-prosecution-of-downer-maughan-struck-off-the-roll\",\"name\":\"Zuma\u2019s private prosecution of Downer, Maughan struck off the roll - 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