State was Zuma’s ‘bank’ to fight graft trials

FORMER president Jacob Zuma used the State as his “banking facility” to fight all criminal charges – including corruption – against him.

This was the DAs argument in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday following Zuma’s claims that the State was legally obliged to pay his fees following a series of corruption and fraud charges brought against him since 2004.

The DA’s legal counsel, advocate Sean Rosenberg, disagreed, saying section 3 (1) of the State Attorney’s Act only allowed the government to provide legal services for Zuma; not fund a private lawyer for him.

“The act only allowed the State Attorney to carry out his statutory function duty. It was not for provision of funding,” Rosenberg said.

The State was used by Zuma as a banking facility, he said. But Zuma, through his counsel, advocate Thabani Masuku insisted that the act allowed the State to appoint Michael Hulley to defend Zuma to avoid a conflict of interest.

Yesterday, EFF legal counsel advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi exposed contradictions in the versions of Zuma’s legal team and an affidavit submitted by the State Attorney in support of the former president’s claim that he was legally entitled to state funds.

Masuku had initially argued that Zuma’s legal funding was purely based on the prescrips of section 3 (1) of the State Attorney’s Act, saying it allowed the State to “fund” Zuma’s legal fees.

The DA and EFF had asked the High Court to stop any further legal funding for Zuma and argued the disputed section 3 (1) did not allow the State to employ a private lawyer to defend Zuma against corruption charges.

But Masuku disagreed. He said the section was aimed at avoiding any “conflict of interest” as the State was also going to fund Zuma’s accuser.

Masuku said the provision of legal services and funding meant the same thing – they are “close cousins”.

He denied that any Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) clause was used to provide legal aid for Zuma.

At this stage Ngcukaitobi pointed out the contradictions in Zuma and the State’s versions. The State’s sworn affidavit said it considered section 3 (1) and also “galvanised section 3 of the PFMA” in securing the services of Hulley. Ngcukaitobi said the State, in its own version, used the PFMA but failed to follow the requirements of it prior to appointing Hulley for Zuma.

He also asked the High Court to reject Masuku’s version that the EFF knew long time ago the State was funding Zuma. His client only knew about it when its leader Julius Malema questioned President Cyril Ramaphosa in March. Judgment was reserved. THE Independent Electoral Commission has expressed concern over the poor showing of young people at voter registration centres ahead of next year’s much anticipated elections.

This is as the IEC is in its last push for eligible South Africans to register to vote before the last registration weekend in January.

The commission said President Cyril Ramaphosa has already informed its leadership of his intention to proclaim the general elections for May.

Yesterday, IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said young people were, however, reluctant to register to vote.

“The Electoral Commission will be supporting the registration drive with the roll-out of national communication and education campaign to encourage participation. A key thrust of the campaign will be urging young, first-time voters to register,” Mamabolo said.

“Currently, the lowest voter registration levels are for voters aged 18-19, who make up 15% of the estimated eligible population and 20-29, who make up 56% of the estimated eligible population.”

The commission also briefed the media on the state of readiness to deliver credible elections, including the contentious call for the attachment of absent addresses of voters on the voters’ roll.

Mamabolo said the IEC has made overwhelming progress in the collection of addresses.

“There is a lot of progress that has been made on the voters’ roll. In March 2016, we had just over 8 million people who had complete addresses. As at the end of October, that number has improved to 21.6 million. There has been that staggering improvement,” Mamabolo said.

He said that of the 7.9 million voters who had no addresses at all in 2016, just 1.6 million of them still had missing addresses, an issue the commission is working on. In August, the commission approached the apex court asking for the invalidity of its voters roll to be suspended until next year’s elections, as it did not want political parties to challenge the outcomes of elections using the absence of addresses.

IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini said January would be the deadline for registration of political parties contesting the elections while certification of the voters’ roll will be in February.