The rising Coronavirus pandemic continues to capture the imagination of many people across the globe. The death toll from the virus continues to climb across Europe, particularly in Italy. South Africa is also channelling all its methods on how to prevent its first fatality as the number of those infected continues to also plummet daily.
With that, certain news development has recently been relegated into obscurity. One example of such was the Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling in dismissing former President Jacob Zuma’s appeal for his nonsensical free permanent stay of prosecution case. The second-highest court in the land dismissed Zuma’s application without even hearing his reasons why he is contesting the Pietermaritzburg High Court’s ruling against his bid to stay free of prosecution.
For a man who has been using the courts for years in order to delay his day in the dock, one can easily presume that the former President will be heading to the highest court in the land for help this time. The Supreme Court of Appeal stated that Zuma’s appeal has no reasonable prospects of success and it does not even have to take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Constitutional Court will arrive at the same conclusion.
Zuma, who is reported to be recovering well from a ‘sickness’ after his treatment in Cuba, will this time have to stand trial for his corruption and fraud charges for the arms deal saga. The former President should save all the money he has left with for his lawyers to defend him in the Pietermaritzburg High Court and not waste it by going to the Constitutional Court as it is inevitable that he will once more suffer a defeat.
It is becoming much clearer that he is running out of options to stay away from the dock. He has previously stated that he wants his day in court, and it seems like he will finally get to see that day that he kept postponing using all the necessary options available to him.
Zuma’s co-accused, the French company, Thales has indicated that it is ready to start with the trial and the former President should also allow the case to finally proceed.
With the ConCourt his last final possible recourse, it will not come as a surprise when the former head of state uses his ‘sickness’ as another delay tactic. He has previously done that to avoid appearing in the court and also at the Zondo Commission. The Pietermaritzburg High Court should be ready to deal with Zuma’s ‘sickness’ delay plan. The time for the former President to answer has arrived and he must embrace that fact.
