Zuma medical records dispute placed on ice
FORMER president Jacob Zuma yesterday scored a minor victory when arguments about making his medical records available to the presiding judge, to determine whether he is medically unfit to come to court, were temporarily put on the back burner.
Zuma’s lawyers were at the Pietermaritzburg High Court to fight for him on two fronts.
The first matter before Judge Piet Koen was whether Zuma was fit to come to court.
In the second part of the case, after Judge Koen temporarily put the matter of the medical record aside, Zuma’s lead lawyer, advocate Dali Mpofu SC and advocate Thabani Masuku SC took turns to try to convince the court why State advocate Billy Downer should recuse himself and not lead the prosecution of Zuma for his alleged arms deal corruption.
Mpofu insisted that Downer and the NPA had partly conceded that some information was leaked and the case was discussed with other parties outside formal structures.
He added that another matter that compromised Downer was that he had conceded that he shed tears when the then head of the NPA, Mokotedi Mpshe, decided to withdraw the charges against Zuma, based on the spy tapes. Mpofu argued that Downer’s tears indicated he attached personal feelings to the case.
Advocate Wim Trengove SC, representing the NPA, accused the Zuma team of distorting facts. Their arguments were “a re-run of old complaints that have failed in the past”.
The matter will resume today.