Will Abrahams give Zuma his day in court?

ONE person is having an uneasy weekend. He’s a person who promised to do the right thing when he was appointed, he’s someone who vowed to obey the rulings of the courts and the laws of the country he swore to uphold. As of yesterday, Shaun Abrahams, our much- maligned national director of public prosecutions, better known to his critics as Shaun of The Dead or Shaun The Sheep when he is actually seen in pub- lic, has little wriggle room left. Yesterday the Supreme Court of Appeal dis- missed the appeal by President Jacob Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority in the so-called spy tapes case. The appeal followed last year’s ruling by the High Court in Pretoria that the NPA should not have withdrawn the 783 counts of corruption against the president arising from the conviction of his erstwhile financial adviser Schabir Shaik, after revelations that the head of the disbanded Scorpions, Leonard McCarthy, and the then NDPP Bulelani Ngcuka had schemed about when to charge Zuma. The process has been Kafkaesque, with the presi- dent’s wishing to have his day in court to clear his name while his legal team racks up eye-watering legal bills (paid by us) as it pursues a typical South African legal tactic: the Stalingrad defence, thwart- ing every possible conclusion to what is effectively an open-and-shut case for as long as possible. Abrahams has it in his power to bring the farce to an end and give the president his avowed wish. We hope he will do what is right and correct the im- pression the courts have given us of the dysfunc- tion in the critical office he heads. The NPA’s mission is to ensure justice for all by prosecuting without fear, favour or prejudice. Abra- hams has a golden opportunity to draw a line in the sand to deter the other chancers who have run amok in our society, engaging in what is termed state capture.