‘Decision to drop Zuma charges clouded’

DA files court papers to have appeal against reinstatement set aside

THE DA has questioned the decision of former National Prosecuting Authority acting head Mokotedi Mpshe to drop charges against President Jacob Zuma on the eve of the 2009 elections.

In the court papers filed in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) yesterday on the dropping of charges against Zuma, the DA said Mpshe’s decision was clouded with emotion, unsubstantiated facts and confusion.

Zuma appealed the decision of the Pretoria High Court a few months ago, after it ruled that charges against him be reinstated.

The SCA has set aside August to hear arguments from both parties.

The DA said Mpshe’s decision to drop the charges in 2009 was irrational.

The official opposition has asked the SCA to dismiss Zuma’s application for appeal against the high court decision.

It said Mpshe had missed the point with his decision to drop the charges.

“In the circumstances, it is submitted that Mpshe’s decision was clouded by emotion, unsubstantiated facts, an inadequate investigation, confusion about his own role and about the effect of (former Scorpions boss Leonard) McCarthy’s decision,” said the DA in the papers.

“Advocate Mpshe also failed to apply his mind to the crucial parts of the test he had to consider in terms of the foreign jurisprudence he relied on.

“This is the very antithesis of a rational decision,” the DA pointed out in its papers.

“Based on the material before him, he could not have rationally reached the decision he did, that this case involved an abuse of the kind which was so serious and so egregious, that it justified the extraordinary step of withdrawing the prosecution of Mr Zuma,” the party said of Mpshe in its affidavits submitted to the SCA.

The DA has been pursuing Zuma since he assumed office in 2009, demanding that corruption charges against him be reinstated.

Both Zuma and the NPA have opposed the application of the DA.