Cyril throws Shaun to the wolves

The Presidency will not appeal judgment against NPA boss

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has withdrawn the Presidency’s appeal against a judgment of the North Gauteng High Court which held that NPA boss Shaun Abrahams should vacate his position.

This happened as Abrahams said yesterday he had received recommendations from a team of prosecutors looking into whether former president Jacob Zuma should be prosecuted for 783 charges of corruption related to the arms deal.

Ramaphosa said the Presidency was dropping the appeal to a judgment by Judge-President Dunstan Mlambo that ordered that a new national director of public prosecutions be appointed and declaring Abrahams’s appointment invalid. Abrahams was appointed by former president Jacob Zuma after the departure of the former NDPP, Mxolisi Nxasana‚ but the court found that Nxasana’s departure was unlawful.

The judgment relates to the golden handshake awarded to Nxasana. The court ordered that he should pay back the more than R10 million he received as part of his exit package.

The appeal was filed by Zuma before he vacated office.

Lawyers representing the Presidency stated that, after consultation with Ramaphosa, they were instructed to withdraw and would not participate in court proceedings.

Zuma is allowed to participate in the case in his own personal capacity, while the Presidency’s withdrawal leaves Abrahams to fight the case alone in the Constitutional Court on Wednesday. Yesterday Abrahams remained mum on when he was likely to make the decision on the Zuma prosecution, although a minister in government said the decision would be made on Wednesday.

However, Abrahams himself may not make the decision if President Cyril Ramaphosa fires him soon. In his State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa said he would fix the NPA, and this apparently included a change in its leadership.

It is believed that Zuma has a strategy up his sleeve if the NPA does decide to prosecute him. Zuma would appeal the decision. Zuma said last year one of the points he would argue was that the KPMG report used in the Schabir Shaik trial was questionable.

This followed the KPMG scandal related to the Guptas. Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza was called in to probe its Gupta dealings.

Zuma’s legal trouble may not be over as he is expected to testify in the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.