FORMER president Jacob Zuma has complained about the lack of cooperation from the court for his private prosecution case against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Zuma told the Joburg High Court on Friday, 26 May, that he always struggles to have the matter on the roll.
His lawyer Advocate Dali Mpofu SC said there was a pattern of him getting no help from court administrators.
Judge Khumalo said this is the first time he has heard of Zuma’s frustrations.
“I don’t want to take your Lordship to inner details but basically, it's non-cooperation. My attorney had to spend the whole day just to have the matter enrolled even though it had been postponed to a specific date. We are told through the grapevine that people are scared to deal with this file for whatever reasons and that should not be tolerated,” Mpofu said.
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Zuma had issued Ramaphosa with a summons in December 2022 accusing him of being an accessory after the fact, or alternatively, defeating the ends of justice.
The matter relates to the alleged disclosure of Zuma’s private medical information by prosecutor Billy Downer to News24 journalist Karyn Maughan in August 2021.
The former president said Ramaphosa’s failure to investigate or take necessary steps to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice makes him an accessory after the fact.
In January 2022, Ramaphosa obtained an interdict exempting him from appearing in court in person, pending Part B of his application to review the private prosecution itself.
Last week, the civil court heard arguments on the validity of the charges and reserved judgment.
Mpofu applied for the criminal matter to be postponed pending the judgment of the review by the civil court.
If Ramphosa is unsuccessful, he would have to appear in the criminal court to answer to charges related to his failure to act against Downer and Maughan.
The matter was postponed to Tuesday, 29 August.
