The Jacob Zuma Foundation on Wednesday said it would not simply accept Judge Piet Koen’s ruling to dismiss an application to appeal a judgement on prosecutor Billy Downer.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court dismissed the latest bid by Zuma to remove state advocate Downer from his corruption case.
Zuma’s lawyers previously argued that Downer would unfairly prosecute their client.
Wednesday’s proceedings resumed with Judge Koen reading out the summary of his 60-page judgment.
He dismissed Zuma’s application to appeal his October 2021 judgment to the Supreme Court.
And as previously argued by the State, Koen agreed that an appeal before the end of the trial would delay matters.
“I then considered the State’s arguments that an appeal against the dismissal of the special plea at this stage of the trial prior to conviction would not be competent,” Judge Koen said.
The foundation said it anticipated that the former president’s application to appeal the judgement would be dismissed.
However, it said it would not go down without a fight in the matter, adding that Zuma should challenge the decision.
Spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi said: “We’re not surprised but what we’re not going to do is to give into this travesty of justice. As the foundation, we will be advising President Zuma to appeal this.”
Koen suggested that the matter continues for trial and that an appeal at this stage would be a delay.
But Manyi said they would not accept this. Regardless, the trial is now set for April.
-EWN
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