Two court applications relating to former South African President, Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution of prosecutor, advocate Billy Downer, and News24 legal journalist Karyn Maughan are expected to be heard in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg this week.
The much-anticipated matters are set down for Monday March 20 and Wednesday March 22, 2023 and the applications are expected to be heard one after the other.
Maughan filed an urgent application against Zuma, asking the KwaZulu-Natal High Court to scrap his private prosecution against her in its entirety.
Downer made a similar application.
In asking the court to set the matter aside, Maughan stated that Zuma did not obtain a nolle prosequi certificate against her.
The certificate is key to Zuma being procedurally allowed to privately prosecute.
The certificate would ordinarily come from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and would state that the NPA had declined to prosecute the matter.
Maughan also asserted that Zuma abused the court process to intimidate, harass and bully her to prevent her from further reporting on his corruption case. She also argued that the former president did not suffer any injury as a result of her published work and that the private prosecution, therefore, didn’t have any legal standing.
Downer has also filed an application asking for the prosecution to be scrapped.
The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef), Campaign for Free Expression and Media Monitoring Africa previously applied to be friends of the court, arguing that the NPA Act was not intended to censor media freedom.
Zuma has accused Maughan of colluding with the State to publish his medical records without his permission. Zuma wants Maughan’s urgent application to be dismissed, arguing that he was entitled to prosecute the journalist.
What exactly happened with his medical records?
When Zuma was imprisoned in the Estcourt Correctional Centre for defying a Constitutional Court order to testify at the Zondo Commission, his military doctor, Mcebisi Mdutywa, wrote a letter to the State. Mdutywa said Zuma had to be transported to Pretoria for urgent medical surgery after suffering a “traumatic injury” a year before.
The letter was attached to both the State and Zuma’s court papers to be heard in court on 10 August 2021, for a postponement.
The previous day, Maughan asked the State’s counsel, Andrew Breitenbach, for a copy of the papers. After electronically filing their papers with the court, Breitenbach sent Maughan a copy of the papers late on the afternoon of 9 August.
The charges against Maughan and Downer relate to News24’s publication of an update on Zuma’s medical condition. The medical document was attached to court papers lodged at the High Court in 2021, News24 reported.
Documents filed with the court are deemed public records unless a judge instructs otherwise. There was no instruction in this instance.
It also didn’t reveal details of Zuma’s condition.
Since his illness, Zuma has been spotted at a series of public events in and around KwaZulu-Natal.
