DA appeal over Zuma 'spy tapes' kicks off

DA appeal over Zuma 'spy tapes' kicks off

Sapa | 15 February, 2012
President Jacob Zuma is fighting a legal bid to stop the DA gaining access to records of the decision that got him off corruption charges Picture: JAMES OATWAY
The DA's legal pursuit of the records, including the controversial spy tapes, that led to the dropping of criminal charges against President Jacob Zuma in 2009, continues in the Supreme Court of Appeal today.
Save & Share
EmailPrintThe party wants a review of the decision by then acting national director of public prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe to drop the charges against Zuma.

The DA has also called on the NPA to produce the record of proceedings in respect to the decision.

The SCA will hear argument in an appeal by the DA against a decision in the High Court in Pretoria, which held that the party had no locus standion the matter.

The high court held previously that the DA had not shown that the NPA's decision not to prosecute Zuma had materially or adversely affected its rights, those of its members or of the broader public.

The DA will try to convince the SCAthat it and two intervening parties - Richard Young and CCII Systems, who were complainants in the alleged criminal matter against Zuma - have a right to challenge Mpshe's decision.

In court papers, the DA said the high court followed the wrong approach to its right and should have followed a more "generous and expansive" one to standing, which the Constitutional Court had repeatedly stated.

The NPA submitted in papers to the SCA that the DA's interests were "party political".

Zuma's legal adviser, Michael Hulley, also argued that the DA had brought the review application on the basis of its standing as a political party.