POLITICS

SCA decision not to hear Zuma appeal disappointing – JG Zuma Foundation

A blanket approach and routine order of dismissal does not provide the required clarity

The Recent SCA Judgment against H.E President Zuma is disappointing but not unexpected

4 April 2022

The JG Zuma Foundation has noted the recent (31 March 2022) judgment by two honourable justices of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) who ruled that they "dismiss the application for leave to appeal". In our respectful view Justice was most definitely not served in this case.

The Foundation is astounded by the glaring vagueness and the ambiguity inherent in this decision. A blanket approach and routine order of dismissal does not provide the required clarity. In this case it is because it's common cause that some of the four separate petitions filed at the SCA do not require "leave to appeal." Even Judge Koen made this clear in his judgment.

Court judgments are there to provide legal certainty and clarity so that subjective inferences are avoided. All litigants are entitled to know the exact and real reasons why their cases are successful or not. This is not the case here.

H.E President Zuma has therefore briefed his legal team to do all that is necessary to approach the President of the SCA in line with the relevant legislation to seek appropriate remedies including the reconsideration, variation or clarification of the decision.

The NPA has been notified of these developments and due to the pressing time table, the presiding judge in the criminal trial has been copied in the correspondence.

All that H.E President Zuma wants is a fair trial, and will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the constitutional promises of the rule of law and equality before the law are evenly applied to all.

On the 11th April 2022, the legal team of President Zuma will be in the Pietermaritzburg High Court with a clear mandate to ensure the protection of these sacrosanct rights and values enshrined in our constitution.

For the criminal trial to proceed under the present conditions whilst these legal protections are being pursued would be a travesty of justice and a vindictive assault on our constitution.

Issued by Mzwanele Manyi, Spokesperson, 1G Zuma Foundation, 4 April 2022