• ZUMA WANTS BANK MOTION ON GUPTA FIRMS STRUCK OFF ROLL:
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has found himself caught in the legal dispute between Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and the Gupta-controlled companies.
The state attorney has filed an affidavit with the Pretoria High Court to have an application by Standard Bank that directly affects the president struck off the roll because Zuma has not been formally joined in the proceedings.
Gordhan applied to the Pretoria High Court in October for an order declaring he did not have the power to intervene in a decision by South African banks to terminate the accounts of the Oakbay group of companies‚ controlled by the Gupta family.
Gordhan made this application following a number of letters from then Oakbay Investments chief executive Nazeem Howa last year, asking the minister to assist the companies after their bank accounts were closed.
The matter is to be heard in the high court today.
However‚ Standard Bank‚ which is a party to the proceedings‚ brought Zuma into the proceedings without formally joining him.
It sought an order declaring that no member of the national executive of government‚ including the president and all members of the cabinet‚ was empowered to intervene in any decision taken by Standard Bank to terminate its banking relationship with Oakbay companies.
Standard Bank said the matter would be heard together with the main application by Gordhan.
However‚ the president was not joined as a party to the legal proceedings as required by the rules of the court, the state attorney said.
Instead‚ Standard Bank lawyers sent a letter to the president on December 15 notifying him of the order they sought.
The letter advised Zuma that the affidavit by Standard Bank would be provided to him so that “you or any other authorised member of the national executive may participate in the application should you elect or be advised to do so”. The president was not happy with this request.
In an application filed with the Pretoria High Court last week‚ Zuma wants the application by Standard Bank struck from the roll with costs.
In an affidavit filed by state attorney Kgosi Lekabe‚ he said the president wanted to take issue with the “irregular attempt” by Standard Bank to seek relief directly affecting Zuma and other members of the cabinet without properly joining them as parties in the proceedings.
Lekabe said if Standard Bank wanted to pursue the order it sought‚ it should have taken steps to have the president and other members of the cabinet joined as parties in those proceedings.