Zuma appeals spy tapes ruling – NPA’s Mpshe wasn’t “impulsive, irrational”

By Lizeka Tandwa

Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma has applied for leave to appeal a court ruling that 783 corruption charges against him must be reinstated, the Presidency said late on Monday.

Zuma gave five reasons for his decision and felt strongly that the High Court in Pretoria had erred in several respects, his office said in a statement.

These included its holding that the National Director of Public Prosecutions was not entitled to terminate a prosecution on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct and the abuse of the prosecutorial process.

Zuma said the court was mistaken in finding that former NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe acted impulsively and irrationally when he decided to drop the corruption case against him.

“The court erred in finding that Mpshe was subjected to undue pressure which deprived him of the time and space to properly apply his mind to the matter,” the Presidency said.The NPA on Monday said it would also appeal the high court’s ruling. After a seven-year battle by the DA, the court ruled on April 29 that the decision to discontinue the prosecution against Zuma should be reviewed and set aside.

On April 6, 2009, Mpshe said transcripts of telephone conversations between then-Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy and former NPA boss Bulelani Ngcuka, showed political interference in the decision to charge Zuma.

The charges were formally withdrawn in the High Court in Durban on April 7, 2009. – News24

Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/zuma-to-appeal-spy-tapes-ruling-20160523

Presidency media statement

President Zuma, the third respondent in the matter between the Democratic Alliance and the Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions, has today filed a notice of application for leave to appeal the decision of the Gauteng High Court.

The President believes that the decision of the Court affects him directly and is of a strong view that the Court erred in several respects in its decision.

The grounds on which the application is based include the following:

• The Court erred as a matter of law in matters including the interpretation and application of the case law relating to rationality as a ground for a legality challenge, and in holding that the National Director of Public Prosecutions is not entitled to terminate a prosecution on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct and the abuse of the prosecutorial process;
• The Court erred in its evaluation of the evidence placed before it by the respondents, particularly in failing to accept the President’s allegations and those of the NDPP, which were undisputed or were not meaningfully disputed by the applicant;
• It also erred in finding that Mr Mpshe’s decision was a consequence of his (subjective) feelings of anger and betrayal and that those feelings caused him to act impulsively and irrationally;
• The Court erred in finding that Mr Mpshe was subjected to undue pressure which deprived him of the time and space to properly apply his mind to the matter;
• The Court erred as matters of fact and law in accepting that the ‘Browse Mole Report’ revealed an unofficial attempt to besmirch the person and integrity of the President, but failing to conclude on the available evidence that the Report compromised the fairness and integrity of the prosecution process entitling the NDPP to terminate the prosecution.

President Zuma believes that the appeal raises important issues of law and fact and also believes that the appeal has reasonable prospects of success.