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It would not be presumptuous for one to assume that whatever argument Jacob Zuma’s legal team presents to the Pietermaritzburg high court – for the state prosecutor Billy Downer to recuse himself – will eventually fail.
The former president returns to court, for his fraud and corruption trial, on 26 May, when the application for Downer to be removed from the case will be heard.
Strangely, the news of the pending application has been known for a while. One would have expected that by the time Zuma appeared in court for the start of his trial on 17 May, the affidavit – stating the alleged case against Downer – would have been ready. That was not to be, lending credence to the widely held belief that this is another one of Zuma’s tactics to delay his trial indefinitely. Surely if Zuma had evidence of nothing short of misconduct on Downer’s part, he would have gleefully handed it over to the court already?
The National Prosecuting Authority has confirmed that former president Jacob Zuma has filed his "special plea" challenging prosecutor Billy Downer's right to try him - which it says appear to be a "regurgitation" of "false" claims he's made before.
He said Zuma seemed to be regurgitating old falsehoods in an attempt to delay the trial.
“At face value, it looks like a regurgitation of the old false issues that have been previously rejected by the courts. However, the matter is now sub judice, we will deal with it extensively in court as required,” Ngwema said in a brief statement.
The protracted case against Zuma and French arms manufacturer Thales was postponed to 26 May 2021 on Monday after judge Piet Koen gave the former president’s new legal team until Wednesday to file an affidavit outlining their reasons for demanding Downer’s recusal.