Former president Jacob Zuma has lost his appeal against the personal costs order against him by the Pretoria High Court in relation to his challenge against the State Capture Report by former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.
The judgment said the report – which led to the establishment of the ongoing Zondo Commission – contained ‘troubling allegations of improper relationships between Mr Zuma, cabinet ministers and senior government officials on the one hand, and the Gupta family on the other’.
In her report, Madonsela directed as remedial action that Zuma establish a commission of inquiry to investigate the allegations, to be chaired by a judge selected by the chief justice.
Zuma challenged the remedial action in court and failed. The high court imposed a personal and punitive costs order against him. He later only appealed against the costs order.
BusinessLive reported that, in rejecting his application for leave to appeal, the Supreme Court of Appeal said it was ‘beyond question’ that the high court had applied the correct legal principles when it made its costs order.
In a unanimous judgment, Justice Ashton Schippers said Madonsela’s remedial action presented an opportunity for Zuma ‘to suppress his own personal interests and serve the national interest as the constitution required. He chose the former.’
The result was a delay in the investigation of the allegations of state capture for more than a year, said the judge.
Zuma’s legal team has indicated that the former president is within his constitutional rights to appeal all the way to the highest court in the land, according to eNCA.