Pretoria – On Monday, Members of the African National Congress (ANC) gathered outside the Pietermaritzburg High Court in KwaZulu-Natal, where former president Jacob Zuma is battling criminally accused veteran journalist Karyn Maughan and State prosecutor, advocate Billy Downer, SC.
One ANC supporter, Lucky Moloi from Midvaal in Gauteng, told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that he would like the former president to lead the ruling party. During the live interview, Moloi was asked what he expected Zuma to tell his followers when he addressed them later today outside court.
“(I want him) to tell the people of South Africa that we have supported him. Once he was the president, we were liberated. We had water. We had electricity. We had free education. Comrade Zuma was not a puppet. He knew what the people of South Africa wanted,” said Moloi.
“Today, comrade Zuma is going to address us and tell us that we should be free. Once we, as South Africans, start to take ourselves seriously, that is very important. Comrade Zuma is going to lead this country.”
Moloi was asked if he supported Zuma’s bid to become the chairperson of the ANC.
He responded: “Even the president. Because he has done wonders. He has done wonders, so we declare him. We support him”.
Moloi added that several people from ANC wards in Midvaal had arrived to support Zuma.
Zuma will be at the Pietermaritzburg High Court for the beginning of the private prosecution of Maughan and Downer.
Last year, the former president opened a criminal case against Downer, alleging that the State’s lead prosecutor in his long-running corruption trial had unlawfully leaked his medical information, including a doctor’s note, to the journalist.
Zuma insists that the actions of Downer and Maughan were in contravention of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, but the NPA declined to prosecute.
Spokesperson for the JGZ Foundation, Mzwanele Manyi, confirmed that Zuma, who has been declared a “free man” after his parole on the contempt conviction expired last week, would physically attend the court case.
“Zuma, a free man, will be in the Pietermaritzburg High Court tomorrow morning (Monday) for the private prosecution of accused number 1, Downer, and accused number 2, Maughan, who both violated s41(6) of the NPA Act,” Manyi wrote on Twitter.
Manyi said the NPA Act s41(6) did not make exceptions for Maughan, or any journalist, for that matter.
“The law forbids any person. Why does Maughan think she’s not any person? It’s not like the objection is based on an honest journalist reporting from publicly available court documents, no.
“Here we are dealing with an unlawful private deal between Downer and Maughan where unfiled and uncommissioned information from the NPA was shared. Why is it complicated to understand that the law was broken? That medical record is aggravating circumstances but a secondary issue,” Manyi said.
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